Michael Hann , January 25th, 2021 10:00 KK Downing and Rob Halford, plus producer Tom Allom and Mantas from Venom talk to Michael Hann about Judas Priest being the first (metal) gang in town and their five decade history Judas Priest today: fifty not out It’s perhaps hard to comprehend at this distance, but Judas Priest might just be the most important band in the history of heavy metal. These days, they appear as old reliables – Rob Halford is, in his own words, “the stately homo of heavy metal” as much as the Metal God these days; they’re good for a headline slot at Bloodstock and capable of filling theatres, but not stadiums like their old students Iron Maiden – but in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Priest pretty much single-handedly drew up the template for what a metal band should look like and sound like.