Followers of the metal were shocked when earlier this year Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing announced he was leaving the band after 40 years. His replacement is young Londoner Richie Faulkner — a man who knows how to set his fretboard alight and melt your face, while remaining cool as ice onstage.

The ex-Ace Mafia and Lauren Harris man took some time out during Priest’s current Epitaph World Tour to discuss his “dream” new life and being a sci-fi geek.

Geeks of Doom: Were you welcomed into the band?

Richie Faulkner: Absolutely. They’ve been nothing short of welcoming on every front really, on a personal level and a musical level as well. We arranged some of the songs live to put some extra guitar solos in there to showcase what I can do and you can’t get more welcome than that. You know, changing arrangements for classic songs like that just to accommodate what you can do I think that’s a great honour to be granted that opportunity.

Geeks of Doom: That twin guitar sound of KK Downing and Glenn Tipton was integral to Judas Priest and to metal music.

Richie Faulkner: Absolutely.

Geeks of Doom: Did you feel any pressure to be replacing a part of that?

I despise American Idol. It goes against every fiber of belief I have in music. The Simon Cowell Cookie Cutter Factory of creating “stars” really gets on my last nerve. Despite my negativity towards the-show-that-distracts-millions, I can’t help but write about it at the moment, because metal gods Judas Priest made a guest appearance on the series finale the other night – and blew the whole show out of the water with a great performance, which you can view at the bottom of this post.

My hatred for American Idol aside, you have to admit that this is a good move for Priest in the publicity department. As reported here numerous times, the band are about to embark on their farewell tour, and making an impressive appearance on a show like this is a good way to get the word out beyond the regular fan base.

A close friend of mine called me up at work yesterday afternoon to say that she heard on the news that Judas Priest, one of my favorite bands ever, were going to be performing on the season finale of American Idol. I immediately began a frenzied Google search for any confirmation on this news, but all it yield were results for the video of contestant James Durbin singing the band’s popular tune, “You Got Another Thing Coming” from an episode in early March. Therefore, I assumed my friend must have just misunderstood what she heard on the news.

With Idol season finale airing tonight, now I’m starting to see rumors pop up online of Judas Priest’s possible appearance on the over 2-hour episode, which begins at 8pm on Fox. Word is that the band will perform with the 22-year-old Durbin, who was eliminated from Idol earlier this month.

Judas Priest has released a new promo image on their Facebook page highlighting their new line-up for their upcoming tour — and you can see the larger version at the bottom of this post. As previously reported here, the band announced their final tour, which they’ve titled The Farewell EPITAPH World Tour.

Following this announcement, it was revealed that guitarist K.K. Downing had formally retired from the band and will not be joining them on tour. Stepping into Downing’s shoes for the tour will be Richie Faulkner, who previously performed with Lauren Harris, daughter of Steve Harris from Iron Maiden.

Downing recently also released a formal statement on his official website regarding his retirement.

Back in December, legendary British heavy metal band Judas Priest announced their plans for a Farewell Tour, called The Farewell EPITAPH World Tour, which would lead to their retirement. The tour would take the band on the road through 2011 and into part of 2012.

Since that announcement, it seemed that the Metal Gods weren’t totally calling it quits, with the news of a new album in the future.

Today comes word from the Priest camp that guitarist K.K. Downing has formally retired from the band and will not be joining them on the upcoming EPITAPH world tour.