February started with a huge announcement from the metal gods, Judas Priest. The band revealed that longtime guitarist, Glenn Tipton, would not be able to embark on the Firepower tour. After being diagnosed the early stages of Parkinson’s ten years prior, Tipton has been performing and recording new music as always. As of now, he can play some of the material but will not be appearing in the live setting. Established record producer Andy Sneap will be filling in on guitar duties for the upcoming dates.
Tipton also clarified that he is not leaving Priest and will return to the spotlight when the time is right.
Losing a beloved guitarist is nothing new for the band as founding member KK Downing willingly stepped down from the group back in 2011. Now that Tipton has met a similar fate, that leaves Priest with a non-original twin guitar lineup.
Of course, Richie Faulkner has been welcomed into the metal community with open arms since his emergence. Being the young blood in the group, Faulkner had a huge responsibility by filling in the shoes of heavy metal royalty. However, he quickly became a key component to the band.
Obviously it’s difficult to accept any change to a lineup, but Priest have been experts in that field. Even when indisputable vocalist Rob Halford stepped down, the band introduced the world to a new Metal God: Tim “Ripper” Owens!
That’s right! Priest managed to survive possibly the most crucial loss in their career and came out of it above other top-shelf artists such as Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. But before any of that took place, the band had just brought in former Racer-X drummer Scott Travis who is arguably one of the best musicians of all-time.
So, Priest can harness themselves out of seemingly any obstacle… but is this 2018 incident a possible hiccup?
If you look at Andy Sneap’s resume, you’ll quickly find that it’s nothing short of amazing. As young as 18 years old, he was already writing and performing in the legendary technical thrash band Sabbat. Establishing his chops on the debut release, History of a Time to Come, the songwriting stood out as his strong suit. This skill solidified with the follow-up record, Dreamweaver. Hailed as an underground classic of the genre, this was a concept album that elaborated on the religious themes centered around the previous material. It’s a complex story with characters and plot points similar to the style of Rush or Dream Theater. Sneap excelled in these lengthy tracks, adapting to the progressive direction of heavy metal.
And that’s just his experience as a guitarist…
After Sabbat broke up, Sneap spent the majority of his career producing/mixing albums from just about everybody in the metal music business. From the critically-acclaimed acts like Megadeth and Accept to the underrated groups like Testament, Annihilator, and Onslaught. He has worked with the best and is currently wrapping up Judas Priest’s Firepower.
Now, it’s clear that Sneap has credibility backing him up. I think there’s no one more appropriate for the position than him on stage with Priest. He came from the obscure corners of thrash metal and worked his way up to the professional field, a devoted metalhead with no chance of disappointing fans.
That’s why I salute Sneap in his upcoming dates with Priest, because he’s the right man for the job and with Tipton’s blessing, there’s no doubt he’ll be delivering the goods!
Godspeed to Andy Sneap, the newest addition to the Metal Gods!
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