Rob Halford says he was “thrilled and delighted” to work with family on his new holiday album, ‘Celestial’

Legacy RecordingsJudas Priest frontman Rob Halford has just released a new holiday album, Celestial, a follow-up to his solo band Halford‘s 2009 yuletide collection, Winter Songs.

Celestial is credited to Rob Halford with Family and Friends, and the singer tells ABC Audio that the project sprung from a conversation with his brother Nigel and his nephew Alex Hill, who play drums and bass, respectively.

“I just put the idea to my brother and nephew about, ‘Do we make some music together?'” he recalls. “And ‘Why don’t we have a crack at making one or two Christmas songs?'”

Celestial also features Halford’s sister Sue on bells, and a couple of guitarist friends of Nigel and Alex, Robert Jones and Jon Blakey.

“I was thrilled and delighted to be working with my family on this one,” Rob notes. “It’s a first for me.”

The album features three original tunes co-written by Halford, along with his unique take on eight holiday classics.

“I think all of these songs have beautiful messages,” Rob says. “[W]hat we tried to do with this holiday album is cover all of the aspects of what Christmastime means to us all.”

Celestial kicks off with the title track, which Halford describes as an “instrumental audio soundtrack of reindeers and Santa Claus ho-ho-ho-ing, and Christmas bells, and…the snow rumbling and all of these great effects.”

That leads into the “Donner and Blitzen,” a headbanging ode to two of Santa’s famous reindeer.

Halford notes that he tried to paint a “visual picture” with the tune, “So we’re roaring around the planet together in a few hours doing all that cool stuff. And it’s fun and it’s exciting and it’s thrilling, and it’s got the Christmas spirit in it.”

Here’s Celestial‘s track list.

“Celestial”
“Donner and Blitzen”
“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
“Away in a Manger”
“Morning Star”
“Deck the Halls”
“Joy to the World”
“O Little Town of Bethlehem”
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
“The First Noel”
“Good King Wenceslas”
“Protected by the Light”

Copyright © 2019, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.