Deftones have hinted their new album could be released in September.

The metal band have finished their ninth studio album, and the band's drummer Abe Cunningham admitted it could drop by early autumn.

He said: ''It should be coming along, hopefully, maybe September.

''I heard something.''

Abe admitted the mixing process was ''a bit rough'' because the band - also made up of Chino Moreno, Stephen Carpenter, Frank Delgado, and Sergio Vega - couldn't be in the same room together due to the pandemic.

Speaking on Download TV for the virtual edition of Download Festival - after this year's spectacle was axed due to the coronavirus pandemic - he said: ''We actually tracked everything over the summer, last summer - June and July - we were in the studio tracking.

''But we actually just completed everything ... we were down in LA recording, but we mixed up in Seattle.

''We're working with our old pal Terry Date, who did a bunch of our earlier records and stuff, too. He's up there [in Seattle] with this whole distancing thing; it was a bit rough, but we figured out a way to kind of do the mixes without being there.

''It's a lot better when we're all in the room; we can knock it out quick and argue and do our things. But, yeah, we just completed that.

''It's getting mastered right now, and that's been the main thing. So it's been something to do in this strange off time.''

Abe's comments come after Chino admitted in November 2019 that the new album would ''definitely be out next year''.

He said: ''This summer, we actually went into the studio and recorded an album's worth of music.

''So, the music was pretty much done and the last few months have sort of just been working on the lyrics and the melodies and the singing parts. So that's pretty much where we're at right now.

''I'm hoping that it'll be earlier on in the year, but I feel like once I give a definitive answer or speculate exactly when, I feel like we'll be held to it so I kind of want to continue on.

''Of course, it'll be out next year, hopefully earlier than later. Our biggest thing is making sure that it's good.

''We'll be performing it, once it's out, for the next two or three years, so we want to be sure it's the best it can be and want to make everyone happy - including ourselves.''