U2: New album, new influences

U2 fans might be in for a surprise when the rockers release their next album, the follow-up to 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Frontman Bono says people will "feel the difference," revealing that the songs will have trance, metal and Moroccan influences. Bono told The Independent, "Normally when you play a U2 tune, it clears the dance floor. And that may not be true of this. There's some trance influences." Bono also said there's some "very hardcore guitar" and "real molten metal coming from guitarist The Edge. He added, "It's not like anything we've ever done before, and we don't think it sounds like anything anyone else has done either."

U2 started the album in Morocco last year and are now working through the demos. Bono said, "We have enough material for two albums but it has to be extraordinary. And I think we've got that."

The band members said they were influenced by a music festival they went to in Fez, Morocco. Bono said, "It was a real humbling thing for a punk rock shouter, listening to these people who just close their eyes for 40 minutes and sing the most sophisticated melodies."

There's no exact release date yet.