Linkin Park album 'a challenge'

Linkin Park's new album has been a "challenge".

Singer Mike Shinoda - who was speaking about his band's much-anticipated follow-up to 2007's 'Minutes to Midnight' - said the album was taking them so long to make because they were trying out a different style of music.

He said: "We make records as a challenge to ourselves. And the challenge this time is: 'Nobody else is making a record that sounds like this, only we can do it.'

"It's been going great, I feel like it's an entirely different process and an entirely different style of music than anything we've done before. It's hard to place. People keep asking me: 'What does it sound like?' and it's hard to describe.

"When people hear it, they're going to have a tough time saying that it falls into a category."

Despite the changes, the 32-year-old performer says Linkin Park have not forgotten those who helped them with their success over the past 13 years.

He told MTV.com: "The album is going really well - we decided to go with Rick Rubin again, he's been in the studio with us. And we've been working in a different studio than we did the last record in, we decided to go back to the studio we did 'Hybrid Theory' and 'Meteora' in."