Linkin Park delay album to choose tracks

Linkin Park have been forced to delay their new album as they are finding it impossible to choose which songs to use.

The record was originally scheduled to be released before the end of the year, but the band have gone through a period of such prolific songwriting and recording in the process of creating their follow-up to 2003's Meteora that they now find themselves with a vast catalogue of tracks to narrow down.

Band member Mike Shinoda told Billboard: "When songs are pouring out you don't ever want to stop that. We already have over 100 roughs for songs. We've narrowed it down since but we're not ready to commit to those yet. I can't really speak much about the style of the record but it's probably the most fun I've had recording a Linkin Park album."

A few weeks ago in an online chat Shinoda also revealed: "We have narrowed it down to about 30-50 songs, and some of those are heavy, some are softer and some are in between,. So far it has a different sound that I cannot describe. It sounds like it's older, but not vintage. More organic in some spots, like just yesterday we recorded a song with no samples that is completely raw. Other songs are full of samples."