We've been waiting almost seven years for new music from Def Lepppard, but apparently we won't have to wait much longer. Lead singer Joe Elliott has revealed that they are done recording the follow-up to 2008's Songs from the Sparkle Lounge.

Opening up his radio show this week, Elliott said, "Yes, I do sound very jolly, don't I?! I'm jolly because we have finished the new album. Yes, well, apart from the mixing of it. We have sung our last word, played our last solo, hit our last drum. It's done!"

Towards the end of 2014, Elliott said that the new songs sound like "what Leppard should be doing at our age as well. It’s a bit more...I don’t wanna say ‘mature’ — that’s the worst word you could ever say. But it’s certainly not a childish record." He also added that "there’s a lot of cool stuff which is a lot more musical, if you like, and a lot more experimental, if you want, without being jazz or anything like that."

Other than saying it will be out "later this year," Elliott didn't offer any details about when it will be available. However, last month he suggested that it will arrive when they have completed their upcoming tours. He told VH1 Radio's Dave Basner that they were not going to perform any of their new songs yet because they didn't want people to first hear them via "cheap, horrible versions on YouTube done on iPhones? No. No way.”

So that means we can expect it to be released towards the end of 2015. Their world tour will begin with Canadian and European shows running from April 15 to June 6. After a few weeks break, they will embark on a long stretch of dates with Styx and Tesla starting June 23 in Tampa and continue all the way through Oct. 4 in Bismarck, ND.

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