Judas Priest legend Rob Halford is officially a Sleep Token fan: "One day The Metal God and Vessel will take a selfie together."

(Image credit: Getty Images)

If there's one man unafraid to champion metal in all its forms, it's Judas Priest icon Rob Halford. In that respect, perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that the singer is a big fan of Sleep Token, as he feels the most hyped band in modern metal are doing things no other band in the scene are currently able to.

In a new interview with Minneapolis radio station 93X (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), Halford waxes lyrical on the mysterious masked metallers, noting that he hopes to meet their enigmatic frontman Vessel one day.

"There's a lot of importance being put in the direction of this band called Sleep Token," says the frontman. "And they're a really curious band in what they're putting out in terms of all of these different textures. They're very difficult to pin down. That's what I find intriguing as a musician listening to their music. It's going to a lot of different places, and I think that there isn't any other band out there right now that's able to do that.

"Because most bands have a specific sound and direction and idea that they project. And then you kind of fine-tune into that. But you can't really nail them down, if that's the expression. And, of course, the guys have been around for a few years; they're not, like, suddenly here they are. They've worked hard to get to this place of recognition. But I really like all the extra textures of the way that they look and the way that they're talking."

"They have a [singer] called Vessel," he adds. "One day The Metal God and Vessel will take a selfie together; I predict that. So, there's something cool."

Judas Priest's new studio album Invincible Shield will be released via Sony Music on 8 March 2024, with a European tour set to follow soon after. Sleep Token, meanwhile, will follow up their historic Wembley Arena headline show with a full UK arena tour this winter, as well as US and Australia dates before that.

Judas Priest 2024 tour dates

March 11: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK
March 13: Leeds First Direct Arena, UK
March 15: Dublin 2 Arena, Ireland
March 17: Bournemouth International Arena, UK
March 19: Birmingham Resorts World Arena, UK
March 21: London OVO Arena Wembley, UK
March 24: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
March 25: Munich Olympiastadion, Germany
March 27: Dortmund Westfalenhalle, Germany
March 29: Prague O2 Arena, Czechia
March 30: Krakow Tauron Arena, Poland
April 01: Vienna Wiener Stadthalle, Austria
April 03: Basel St Jakobshalle, Switzerland
April 05: Lyon Halle Tony Garnier, France
April 06: Assago Mediolanum Forum, Italy
April 08: Paris Zenith, France

Sleep Token UK tour 2024

November 25: Glasgow OVO Hydro
November 26: Manchester Co-op Live
November 28: Birmingham Utilita Arena
November 29: London O2 Arena
November 30: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
December 2: Leeds First Direct Arena
December 3: London O2 Arena

Artists

Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.