A conversation we wish we'd been privy to, featuring Rob Halford, banshee vocalist of heavy metal gods Judas Priest, and Elizabeth II:

"She asked, `Why is heavy metal so loud?'

"I said, `You have to have it loud to bang your head, Your Majesty.'

"She sniffed at that,'' Halford continues, though the queen is hardly the first to sniff at Priest or heavy metal.

All this took place on March 1 at Buckingham Palace at a royal reception recognizing British music and its contribution to the nation's culture and economy. Among the guests were Charlotte Church, Cilla Black, Shirley Bassey, Roger Daltrey, Phil Collins, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, and a murderers' row of ax men that included Brian May, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page (who the queen asked, "Are you a guitarist, too?'').

And Halford, reunited with Judas Priest after a 12-year break.

"That was surreal, going to Buckingham Palace,'' Halford said. "It was the first time the royal family wanted to give a nod to the music industry in general. My mother was more excited about it than anyone else, but it was magical for me, too, because I'm a royalist. I love the royal family, for all its imperfections, but to actually meet the queen! That was a thrill and a memory I'll always cherish.''

"It was a bizarre day,'' he continued. "I flew out of Finland that morning and two hours later I was in Buckingham Palace talking to the queen.''

Finland was one stop on a sold-out European tour that confirmed Judas Priest was back and still a commercial force. The current tour is the band's first headlining in United States arenas since the early 1990s. That was the last time Halford fronted Judas Priest, whose other members are guitarists Glenn Tipton and KK Downing, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis.

That lineup returned last summer, sharing co-headline status on the Ozzfest tour with Black Sabbath, the other British band that can be held responsible for heavy metal.

Getting back together was a headbanger's dream and a wise move for all. Judas Priest's Halford-less albums and Halford's ventures with the bands Fight, Two and Halford weren't exactly commercial triumphs. Angel of Retribution, the first new Judas Priest album in four years and the first with Halford in 14 years, opened at No13 on its March release, the band's highest chart position of its career. Critically acclaimed, the album sold more copies in its first week than its predecessor, 2001's Demolition, did in four years and went Top 10 in a dozen countries.

Halford, who once declared ``metal is dead'' (and quickly apologized) feels late-blooming vindication.

``It's true to say there's been some respect of late. And I think it's true to say that [heavy metal] has always been viewed as the underdog of rock'n'roll.

``Now, certain aspects of it are being accommodated and given approval to, and Judas Priest is one band that's receiving recognition.''

Black Sabbath's minimalist, doom-laden crunch may be the progenitor of heavy metal, but by speeding it up and injecting drama and dynamics, Judas Priest made it the sound of blue-collar adolescents worldwide. The band began in 1969 with a different lineup and a shifting identity, finally striking metal with what was then an innovative, two-guitar attack.

Halford, a one-time theatrical lighting technician possessed of earsplitting leather lungs, signed on in 1973, though success wouldn't be hinted at until 1976's Sad Wings of Destiny album. The late 70s and early 80s brought such hit albums as Stained Class, Hell Bent for Leather, British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance, featuring You've Got Another Thing Coming, the band's only charting single in the US.

Momentum stalled in the mid-80s when the parents of two teenage fans from Reno, Nevada, who had attempted suicide, one of them successfully, brought a US$6.2 million (HK$48.36 million) suit against the band, alleging that a subliminal message had been encrypted in the song Better by You, Better Than Me. In summer 1990, a judge rejected the suit.

That year Judas Priest returned to form on the Painkiller album, but there were rifts among the riffs. Halford wanted to explore new directions on a solo album, but the only way he could do so contractually was to quit the group. He left in 1992, and was replaced by Tim ``Ripper'' Owens, who'd been fronting a Judas Priest tribute band in Cleveland (later inspiration for the film Rock Star).

The break between Halford and Judas Priest would last more than a decade, with reconciliation coming in odd ways - in 2002, Halford invited his old friends to his parents' 50th wedding anniversary - and obvious ones, such as needing to work together on 2003's Metalogy box set celebrating the band's 30th anniversary.

``At the time, all of us were so connected with whatever work we were doing we didn't really have that much of a period of reflection to ponder the what-ifs and the whys and wherefores and shoulda-coulda-wouldas,'' Halford said.

``But in recent months, it's gone through my mind: What could we have done, what could we have achieved, in that decade when we were not in each other's company?''

Halford followed Owens' exploits with his band. ``Oh, absolutely, because I'm as much a fan of Judas Priest as I am in it. I love this band's music and its performances, its personalities, quirks and idiosyncrasies. I love everything about Judas Priest.''

Last August, Halford found himself fronting Sabbath, his fellow Birminghamites, at an Ozzfest stop in New Jersey. ``Sharon [Osbourne, wife of Sabbath singer Ozzy] called me at my hotel - I thought she was calling about the birthday gift she and Ozzy sent the day before. She said, `It's something about Ozzy; he's not well.'''

Ozzy, in fact, had bronchitis.

``Sharon asked if I would step in, and my first question was when do you want me to do it? `Tonight. C'mon, love, you're a big Black Sabbath fan, you know all the songs.'''

Halford boned up by watching a concert video on the tour bus, got off to do the Priest show, showered and then headed back to the stage. ``It was a thrill, and I just went out and did my best,'' Halford said. He has a bootleg video of the Camden show but can't watch it.

``It's Judas Priest at the top of my fan list and then Black Sabbath, and it freaks me out to look at myself on stage with Tony [Iommi], Geezer [Butler] and Bill [Ward].''

A video he has watched is Heavy Metal Parking Lot, the infamous 16-minute documentary by Washington-area filmmakers Jeff Krulik and John Heyn. It captured the social interaction outside a 1986 Priest concert at the old Capital Center, where mullet-sporting fans waxed poetic about Priest and metal. Director Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous) has called it one of the greatest rock movies ever.

``It's a microcosm of what goes on, not just a Priest show, but at a heavy metal show even today,'' Halford said. ``It's good satirical sociology. It's been examined to death by everybody.''

THE WASHINGTON POST