The only missing thing from the Judas Priest impressive discography is a conceptual album. In order to attain and then keep the status of a legendary rock band, the album built around a certain story is a must. Rock-honored heavy metal groups need to prove they can put sounds and story together, so as to create a complex image.

This is exactly what Rob Halford & co plan to do on their next album. The topic is already chosen - the 16th century French prophet Nostradamus.

Judas Priest have sung before about fictive or historical characters - "Loch Ness", "The Sentinel" or "Sinner" are just a few examples. So the task of building a whole album around the idea of prophet Nostradamus shall bear only a degree difference compared to their previous work. Or, as Halford himself says in a declaration for Billboard.com, "it's just like a natural progressive step". All they have to add now is a unitary idea for a whole album, idea that should come from both the music and the lyrics of the songs.

The album doesn't have a title yet and neither have the songs. It is hoped that it comes out in early 2007. After the release, Judas Priest plan to go on a promotion tour and this is going to be the most exciting thing about this whole new conceptual album. Putting the story on stage is the actual challenge.

The only brake from studio work that Judas Priest can afford before finishing the album is the one caused by participation at Rock Honors in Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay, where they will play with Kiss, Queen and Def Leppard on May 25th.

No prophecies yet, but still, from what we know, we can anticipate that Nostradamus will provide Judas with the peek point of their career as legends of rock.