Former Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing has finally broken his recorded musical silence with the release of a new video clip for the track Hellfire Thunderbolt!

Taken from Downing’s upcoming album under the KK’s Priest banner, Sermons of the Sinner, the track is a four-minute, all guns blazing romp through the heavier side of the man’s former day job, as expected thanks to the vocal presence of Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens. However former Priest drummer Les Binks, also touted as being a member of these dissident aggressors is notable by his absence due to a ‘wrist injury’ that will keep him from committing to active duty with the band in the future beyond the level of occasional guest appearances.

Binks is ably replaced by Cage skinbasher Sean Elg, with bass duties taken up by Voodoo Six four stringer Tony Newton and lead guitar by Hostile’s AJ Mills.

The new album is slated for an August release, with Downing commenting: “The ultimate message is we’ve moved away from this music that we loved for so long and we’re so dedicated to, and now we’re in a situation where lots of people are actually passing away; We’ve lost a lot of great people – Dio, Lemmy, I could go on – and that’s gonna be accelerated over the coming years. Basically, enjoy everything that’s left of this brand of metal including from me. It’s not going to last forever.”

Downing says the word “sinner” in the album title refers to his famous solo in that classic song of the same name, noting that fans are always hoping for new music to sound like the Judas Priest classics. KK’s Priest’s new material is most certainly an homage. They have unleashed an album with a modern sound that hearkens back to what fans have always loved about Downing and his music and which still sounds fresh. The high speed album opener Hellfire Thunderbolt offers a fictitious take on how metal arrived before the masses were ready for it. Rousing rockers like Raise Your Fists and Wild And Free revel in the passion and excess that metal fans embrace. The guitar interplay is intense and inspiring, and the band is firing on all cylinders.