Having recently gotten off the road from their ‘Epitaph’ world tour a few months ago, Judas Priest will soon begin the process of writing and recording the follow-up to 2008′s ‘Nostradamus.’

Lead singer Rob Halford told Billboard that he and guitarist Glenn Tipton have already “a tremendous amount of material in the vaults already,” and that they’re looking forward to hearing what new guitarist Richie Faulkner can bring to the table. Faulkner replaced founding guitarist K.K. Downing in 2011.

“It’s going to be really thrilling moment to get together in a new writing dimension,” Halford said. “Glenn and myself and Richie, putting all of these ideas together. We’ll see what we can do over the next couple of months, look at everything, lay it all out and then start the hard work of picking out the best material.”

Although Halford hopes that a new Priest album would be released in 2013, at this early stage, he refused to set a date at this early stage.

“I’m of the attitude it’ll be ready when it’s ready,” he continued. “I don’t think we’re going to slack off. We’re determined to do a lot of work and be just as dedicated as we’ve always been and take a lot of care and attention with all the songs. We’re not going to just bang this one out, so to speak.”

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