They’re two of the world’s biggest metal bands, and now, Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill has expressed his desire to see his group team up with the great Iron Maiden one more time.

Think back to the early ’80s for one moment, and you’ll likely agree that there no two English metal bands more iconic than Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.

Back in 1980 though, Priest were gearing up to release their sixth album, British Steel, on April 14th, while Iron Maiden were readying their self-titled debut for release on the same day.

Kicking off a European tour, the rock veterans took the young Iron Maiden on as support, igniting a relationship that would see the two bands play together for a couple of years.

Check out Iron Maiden’s ‘Running Free’:

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Following a few more tours together in the coming years, things soon get a bit testy, with Judas Priest’s K.K. Downing noting there were tensions between the two bands thanks to a quote from Iron Maiden’s then-vocalist Paul Di’Anno.

“I read in a music paper that [Iron Maiden said] something like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna blow the bollocks off Priest,’ or something like that,” Downing explained in 2018.

“And I said, ‘Well, who are these guys?’ Why should we have [them] on tour if they’re gonna create this type of vibe before we’ve even met them, let alone done a show together?'”

While things eventually got smoothed over, the two bands haven’t toured together since the early ’80s. Now, Judas Priest’s Ian Hill would like to see a reunion of sorts.

Check out Ian Hill speaking to Audio Ink:

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Speaking to Audio Ink recently (via Brave Words), Hill was asked about any artists that Priest might want to either collaborate with or tour alongside in the future.

“That’s a good question. There’s always the big question of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden,” Hill noted. “That would be really interesting if we could get that together before some of us die. It’d be great!”

“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.”

While Judas Priest were in the country for Download Festival this year, the group recently revealed they are already working on a new album, while noting they’ve got no plans to quit touring just yet.

Who knows, maybe a 40th anniversary of the two bands’ iconic albums could kick off in April of 2020?

Check out Judas Priest’s ‘Breaking The Law’:

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