Linkin Park

Their 2004 mash-up collaboration with Jay-Z may have kept Linkin Park fans happy for a while, but diehards have been waiting nearly four years for their rap-rock fix.

They'll get it on April 30.

The LA-based sextet said today that its as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2003's multiplatinum Meteora will hit stores April 30, with the album's first single coming out in March.

"Our new album has officially entered the 'mixing stage' of the process," the band said in a statement sent via e-mail to its fans. "We have put more into the new album than anything we have ever done before. After over a year of writing, recording, and setting unrealistic finish dates for the record [sorry about that!], we are in the homestretch. The new album is very exciting for the six of us, and we can't wait until everyone can hear it!"

Acclaimed producer Rick Rubin co-produced the record with Linkin Park and Fort Minor rapper Mike Shinoda.

Co-frontman Chester Bennington told NME.com that the album is "dark and spooky, poppy and very melodic. We're straying away from a lot of the predictable sounds we've had in the past," he said. "But there's no question in your mind when you hear it that it's Linkin Park."

The band also quashed rumors that two new songs the band played at live shows in recent years had made it onto the album. "You have heard either 'Qwerty' or 'Announcement Service Public'...both tracks that came out of our recording process, but neither of which will be on the album. They are currently available on this year's LPU [fan club] CD. Go check it out here."

The band also plans to launch LPTV, a series of webisodes that describe the history of the band and give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new album. On the tour front, Linkin Park is slated to play Bamboozle 2007 in New Jersey in May and has several European dates lined up, but has yet to announce a North American tour.