Songfacts®:

• This is the title track of Judas Priest's concept album about the soothsayer Nostradamus. Frontman Rob Halford told MTV why they decided to record an album about the legendary 16th century French prophet: "Nostradamus is all about metal, isn't he? He was an alchemist as well as a seer - a person of extraordinary talent. He had an amazing life that was full of trial and tribulation and joy and sorrow. He's a very human character and a world-famous individual. You can take his name and translate it into any language and everybody knows about him, and that's important because we're dealing with a worldwide audience."
• Bassist Ian Hill told Australia's Beat magazine about the album: "It's a massive piece of work for us. After the 'Angel Of Retribution' album we were glad to have Rob Halford back in the band after a decade away. He is Judas Priest. As a band we started to write new material, when our manager came up with the idea of a concept album on the life and times of Nostradamus. We all kind of laughed initially, but K.K., Glenn and Rob really got stuck into the project and it was like watching them go back to school. The research was exhaustive.
  
  We haven't all come out of it devotees to the man, and I still think a lot of it is possibly a load of crap, but as a story of a man, it's an immense one and musically it's been such a challenge and progression for us. After all these years in this business it's great to have that feeling. Oh… by the way the world ends in 2014, so don't bother paying off any mortgages or debts - go and have the time of your life."