Almost as soon as they announced their 2011 farewell tour, the members of Judas Priest started clarifying that what they meant was that it would be their final major world tour. So if you missed them on that run, don't worry: It sounds like the band has had a change of heart.

During a recent interview with WVOX (via Bravewords), frontman Rob Halford finally explained what many fans suspected as soon as the words "farewell tour" were uttered: Priest aren't going to give up the road any time soon. "Well, it's turned out not to be the final world tour," he admitted. "What we tried to do as we suddenly got into gear again and especially since [new guitarist Richie Faulkner] came on board -- we suddenly realized that now there were more opportunities opening up."

Continued Halford, "What was a final global world tour in the way that we've been doing them for the past 30-odd years is just going to change slightly. For example, we're going to do a European tour for about a month or two months, and then instead of jumping on a plane and going straight to New York to start an American tour, we're just going to pull back and put a bit of space to recharge our batteries and to be able to keep that special feeling that Priest always wants to generate when we go onstage. We have a big responsibility -- not only to ourselves, but to our fans -- that we don't drop the ball. And, so again, it's no different than sports athletes; Michael Jordon wasn't going out on the court as much when he was getting older. But when he went out he could get it in the hoop. But it's not the end of touring. We are still going to be going out there."

In fact, it sounds like Halford intends to keep screaming as long as his famous pipes hold up. "One of my all-time heroes is Willie Nelson, who, as you know, is celebrating his 80th year," he said. "God bless the man. Even somebody like Tony Bennett, the great crooner. These guys inspire me as a musician. Seventy is the new 50. Like heavy metal will never die -- the Metal God will never die."