Judas Priest performing at Tampere, Finland; PC:WIKIMEDIA

Who feels like they can use a little more Judas Priest in their life? It’s been a few years since the band released their 2008  concept album, Nostradamus, and if it seems as if the seminal metal band is due for another one, you guessed it as the guys will be back in the studio shortly to work on just that - this according to frontman Rob Halford.

Halford spoke with Billboard.com recently about the band’s plans now that they have wrapped up their Epitaph tour, which the band famous proclaimed would be their "last world tour ever" back in early 2011.

“[Judas Priest] is ramping things up to get back into full recording mode,” said Halford, adding that he and guitarist Glenn Tipton have "a tremendous amount of material in the vaults already. 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."

Halford went on to talk about the inspiration behind their latest project in the making, stating that “as we were proceeding with the tour, [guitarist Ritchie Faulkner] was taking this little mini-studio into his dressing room and we could hear him riffing away,"

 "It's going to be really thrilling moment to get together in a new writing dimension,” he added. “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."

And just in case all if the fans out there were hoping for a release date of something along the lines of later this year, think again… and think farther into the future while you’re at it as Halford cautiously held back on giving anything more concrete than “I’m of the attitude it’ll be ready when it’s ready.”

Well, if their track record is anything to go off of – they have released 16 studio albums in the past forty years – we will get an album, but probably not until later next year at the earliest.

In the mean time, those needing something a bit sooner to feed the beast can look forward to  “Screaming for Vengeance – Special 30th Anniversary Edition” when it hits the streets on September 4. Along with the classic album, fans will get two bonus tracks off the 20th anniversary edition as well as four previously unreleased live tracks from a 1982 show in San Antonio – not to mention a bonus DVD featuring Priest's performance at the 1983 US Festival in San Bernardino, California.