Linkin Park is mixing its as-yet-untitled new album, expected in May via Warner Bros. According to a post on the band's MySpace.com page, the first single will arrive next month. "After over a year of writing, recording and setting unrealistic finish dates for the record, we are in the home stretch," the band wrote.

"These are really beautiful songs," producer Rick Rubin told Billboard in December of Linkin Park's first album in four years, which was delayed by a now-settled dispute with Warner Bros. "They've outdone themselves." Rubin steered the band toward recordings by Pink Floyd, Elton John, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer as reference points for different emotions.

"The Moog [synthesizer] has been sitting in the studio since day one," MC Mike Shinoda told Billboard.com in November. "The thing about Rick that I love is he's unpredictable. He'll listen to a song and throw out an idea that seems completely out of nowhere, but it makes a lot of sense and it makes the song better."

Linkin Park will return to live duty with a May 6 appearance at the Bamboozle festival in East Rutherford, N.J. European festivals are on tap for June.