- 2025-07-03
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MUSIC
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Judas Priest Covers Black Sabbath's “War Pigs”
British heavy metal band Judas Priest, consisting of Rob Halford (vocals), Ian Hill (bass), Glenn Tipton (guitars), Scott Travis (drums) and Richie Faulkner (guitar), released a cover of British heavy metal band Black Sabbath's “War Pigs” on July 2, 2025.
The original version of the song is featured on Black Sabbath's second studio album “Paranoid”, which was released in 1970.
The cover version was released ahead of Black Sabbath's final concert, which will be held this Saturday (July 5th) at Villa Park in Birmingham, England.
The concert will feature appearances from Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice In Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax, and Mastodon.
In addition, Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, Disturbed's David Draiman, Guns N' Roses' Slash and Duff McKagan, Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, Korn's Jonathan Davis, Sammy Hagar, Wolfgang Van Halen, Jake E. Lee, and Ghost's Papa V Perpetua will also appear.
However, Judas Priest will not join the concert as they are supporting Scorpions' 60th anniversary concert in Hannover, Germany on July 5, 2025.
So, the band decided to release the cover of “War Pigs”.
The band said of the song, “We are honored to show our love for Ozzy and Black Sabbath with our homage of 'War Pigs', a song we play at every show around the world that fans sing along to, reinforcing their love as well for the legendary Prince Of Darkness!”- The band frontman Rob Halford said, “I had no idea [the Sabbath show] was happening. It all got announced and was a big deal - [the Hannover concert featuring] Scorpions and Priest - and suddenly I get this phone call [from Sharon Osbourne]: 'Robbie, I know you've got this gig with Scorpions, but could you consider coming over to do a thing with Ozzy and the guys? He'd love to see you.'”
He continued, “Trying to make both gigs would be dangerous. Even with a private plane, there's a word called 'technical,' where something could go wrong, or the weather that time of year could cause problems... I was absolutely gutted.”
He added, “All my mates are going to be there though, great bands and artists. It's a wonderful and epic moment for Sabbath and heavy metal - it re-emphasizes that Birmingham is where metal came from.”
Black Sabbath's frontman Ozzy Osbourne said of the final concert, “It's my time to go Back to the Beginning....time for me to give back to the place where I was born. How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham Forever.” - source : YouTube
