Deftones' ninth studio album will "definitely be out next year".
Deftones' Chino Moreno
That's according to their frontman Chino Moreno, who has confirmed the 'Knife Party' hitmakers - also made up of Stephen Carpenter, Abe Cunningham, Frank Delgado and Sergio Vega - have recorded "an album's worth of music".
He said: "This summer, we actually went into the studio and recorded an album's worth of music.
"So, the music was pretty much done and the last few months have sort of just been working on the lyrics and the melodies and the singing parts. So that's pretty much where we're at right now.
"I'm hoping that it'll be earlier on in the year, but I feel like once I give a definitive answer or speculate exactly when, I feel like we'll be held to it so I kind of want to continue on.
"Of course, it'll be out next year, hopefully earlier than later. Our biggest thing is making sure that it's good.
"We'll be performing it, once it's out, for the next two or three years, so we want to be sure it's the best it can be and want to make everyone happy - including ourselves."
And Chino admitted the band hadn't put pressure on themselves to record the album in a certain time frame, so it has been a "cool process" making the follow up to 2016's 'Gore'.
Speaking to NBC 7 San Diego, he added: "We're not doing that thing where we go in and lock ourselves in a room until it's done; we are kind of enjoying our time making it.
"It's been a cool process, we get together, we work for a couple weeks, whether that's just making noise and coming up with ideas and then everybody just goes home and comes back to work on 'em a little bit more. So, we've been doing that for a little over a year or so."
Chino's comments come after Deftones sparked speculation they had started work on a new album back in March 2018.
The alternative metal outfit dropped a huge hint they were working on a new record after admitting they were"back at it".
A post on their official Instagram showed the group back in the studio, and they added the caption: "Someone say jam?! #deftones #backatit #fujixt2 #fujifilm #xt2 (sic)"
They also shared another picture of lead guitarist Stephen jamming on his ESP.
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