While Linkin Park is on a break from touring, the band has been hard at work on their follow-up to 2010’s A Thousand Suns . In an interview with ARTISTDirect.com , multi-instrumentalist Mike Shinoda gave fans an idea of what they can expect from the band’s fifth studio album.

“This next album is a little more of a compact, ‘firecracker record,’ as I like to call it,” revealed Shinoda. “As opposed to the long landscapes we were creating with A Thousand Suns , this is not a concept record in that style. This is a song-based record.”

Shinoda added creating the score for the upcoming film The Raid: Redemption with his friend Joe Trapanese helped the writing process for the new LP album.  He told ARTISTDirect that he noticed that he and Trapanese were able to get a lot done because they weren't constantly checking in with each other about how the project was going.  He then applied that same idea to the making of the new LP album when he returned to the band.

"We [had] these weekly meetings, and we [met] every Monday to check in about the songs regardless of the progress," Shinoda explained.  "I said, 'Let's try something different and not check in so often. Let's just write and see where we go.' For me, if I work on something more days in a row without checking in, I feel like I get more consumed by it. I'm inside it...I'm in this crazy place with the song where I know every little nook and cranny. I think that's benefited this new record a lot."

Shinoda's soundtrack for The Raid: Redemption is now available as a digital download on iTunes. In addition, a limited edition CD is available at TheRaidSoundtrack.com .

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