Judas Priest have an eventful few months ahead: The band recently announced a farewell tour and have welcomed a new guitarist, Richie Faulkner, to replace the recently retired KK Downing.

Priest will be working in new guitarist Faulkner, who sees his playing style as similar to his predecessor's. "My take on KK's playing was he improvised quite a lot live," says Faulkner. "It was kind of a basic framework around the solo that was on the record, and then he would go off a bit on that. So my style is kind of the same as that – I normally take what's in the solo and just play around with it a bit. But it keeps the essence of the solo there."

Priest singer Rob Halford also revealed that the group has also been working on all-new material. It is with regret that Judas Priest announce that KK Downing has formally retired from the band and will therefore not be joining them on their forthcoming Epitaph world tour.

The 31 year old will officially be introduced to fans at a press conference in Hollywood on Tuesday (24 May 11). Faulkner previously played with British act Voodoo and also backed Iron Maiden star Steve Harris' daughter Lauren.

He joins heavy rock legends Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill and Scott Travis in Judas Priest. Together the new-look band will hit the road for the Epitaph Tour.

Guitarist Glenn Tipton said, "It's not exactly the end of the band, it's just the fact that we won't really be doing any more world tours". "It takes a big chunk out of your life. We've been doing it for 40 years now or close to it, and we all love that moment on stage, but it's difficult to be away from home and all the traveling involved. Now, if somebody came along and said, 'Would you do a small string of dates,' we wouldn’t automatically say no to that. But in general, this is probably the last chance you'll get to see Priest live."