IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, TESTAMENT, Etc. Rumored To Be Embarking On Huge Tour Next Year

Rob Halford Bruce Dickinson

Metal Addicts has heard from “anonymous source” that IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST are planning to embark on a U.S. tour next year, with TESTAMENT, OBITUARY and THE RAVEN AGE filling in the support slots. No dates have been announced thus far, but the trek is tentatively titled “The Metal Legions Tour” and will include performances at arenas and amphitheaters taking place in the spring and summer of next year.

Rumors of this amazing giant tour package come days after JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill talked to Audio Ink about a possible collaboration with IRON MAIDEN:

“It will come. Eventually there will come a time when maybe you aren’t able to perform to your optimum or high standards anyway, and you have to admit to yourself that you’ve got to do other things. There will come a time, but for us, it’s not yet. I can see the reasons why they’re doing it, but we’re enjoying it too much at the moment to consider quitting!”

Ian was also quoted as saying:

“There’s always the big question of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. That would be really interesting if we could get that together before some of us die. It’d be great! [Laughs] There are a lot of other bands we’ve played with. We’ve got Uriah Heep, specials guests on this tour. I was a fan of Uriah Heep way back in the day. They go back at least as long as we do, if not a bit further You run into these people over the years. We’ve played with quite a few of them, but we’ve got to get together with Iron Maiden.”

The Metal Legions Tour” will be the first time in decades that IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST have toured together, and will see the former tour in support of their long-awaited seventeenth studio album, which will be their first since 2015’s “The Book of Souls” and is reportedly due for release next year.

TESTAMENT ― who have toured with IRON MAIDEN once before, back in 1992 when they were supporting the latter on their “Fear of the Dark” U.S. tour ― are currently recording a new album at Trident Studios in Concord/Pacheco, California with producer Juan Urteaga, who also recorded and engineered the iconic Bay Area thrash metal band’s latest album, 2016’s “Brotherhood of the Snake“. The record is tentatively due for release before the end of the year.

THE RAVEN AGE ― an English melodic metalcore featuring IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris‘ son George on guitar ― self-released their second album “Conspiracy” last March and can be streamed on outlets such as Spotify, YouTube, Apple, Google Play, Amazon and Deezer.

Pioneering death metal act OBITUARY last released their self-titled tenth studio album back in March 2017, and they are reportedly working on new material.