JUDAS PRIEST’s SCOTT TRAVIS Explains Why He Thinks The Nostradamus Album Did not Work Out

When Judas Priest launched Nostradamus in 2008, the response was removed from uniform. For some, the bold double idea album showcased a band prepared to push boundaries. For others, it marked one of many extra divisive entries of their legendary discography. Almost 20 years later, the document nonetheless sparks reflection from the musicians themselves.

In a brand new dialog with Chris Akin of The Basic Steel Present, drummer Scott Travis was requested whether or not the band appears again fondly on the undertaking. He admitted (by way of Blabbermouth), “I feel it might rely on who you discuss to within the band. [Laughs] For me personally, yeah, I do not assume it was our strongest launch, and it was meant to imitate — not mimic, but it surely was meant to go after the kind of, not the group, ‘trigger it was undoubtedly for the Priest followers, however the… What am I making an attempt to say? It was making an attempt to go after one thing that could possibly be made greater than only a rock band doing a rock album and releasing it and doing a tour.”

“In different phrases, it was meant to be one thing that possibly may have been was some sort of theater present or may have gone on to be an even bigger manufacturing. I am not likely certain. I simply bear in mind listening to the discuss concerning the thought initially to do an album based mostly round Nostradamus‘s life and issues like that,” he added.

For Travis, the album’s launch additionally coincided with a fragile second throughout the group’s ranks. He recalled: “Considering again on it, it was additionally close to the tip of the Okay.Okay.–Glenn relationship. Are you aware what I imply? ‘Trigger they had been nonetheless within the band, however there was plenty of friction there. And once more, I used to be witness to it. And I may inform issues most likely weren’t gonna final. I did not know what would occur or that Okay.Okay. would really go away the band — I actually did not predict that — however I may simply inform that they weren’t getting alongside and everyone as a bunch was sort of simply spreading out and dwelling in numerous elements of the world.”

The undertaking might not have endured of their dwell reveals both. Final October, bassist Ian Hill gave his personal perspective in an interview with Chris Akin Presents: “It was most likely one thing we would have liked to get out of our system. But it surely’s a kind of albums — it’s extremely lengthy, very difficult as properly, and it’s designed to be listened to in a single sitting, which is likely one of the causes that we do not play any songs from that document. It is nice — I imply, it’s, at coronary heart, an important heavy metallic document; it truly is — but it surely’s selecting out the songs that might match into the set in the mean time.”

“And there is something there that might improve the set. However for the sake of it, we may try this — [play a song] from Nostradamus — but it surely would not have helped the set in some other approach. And it’s troublesome to do, once you’re getting a setlist collectively, as a result of it’s a must to discover that mix of latest materials, clearly previous favorites that you just’d get lynched if you happen to did not play, and you then’ve received an entire melting pot there of stuff that we will select of. And it will get tougher with every album, as a result of each time you place a brand new music in, you have to drop somebody’s potential favourite. However we do our greatest, and I feel we have it just about proper up till now anyway.”

Whereas Nostradamus had its defenders, many followers felt it strayed too removed from the basic Priest sound. Critics typically described it as gradual, operatic, and closely reliant on keyboards, with solely a handful of tracks resembling the band’s signature heavy metallic drive.