Former Corrosion of Conformity guitarist and vocalist Pepper Keenan will be back in the fold for the band's next album, tentatively scheduled for release sometime in 2015.

Drummer Reed Mullin spilled the beans during an interview with Indy Week, revealing that although Keenan has been focusing on his band Down in recent years, he and Mullin have lately bonded over unused archival material. "Pepper and I were talking the other day, and we've got some riffs left over ... that I never used for C.O.C. stuff, and he didn't use for Down," he explained. "They've just been sitting around from when we used to do demos ... He was like, 'Man, I found a couple cassettes.'"

Referring to the tapes as "a cache of some good riffage," Mullin added that immediate plans call for a return to the road with Keenan. "He's taking time off from Down and, you know, he makes so much damn money doing Down, we've got to get him while we can get him," he enthused. "He's really excited about it, and we're awful excited to do it. It's been a while. It's been I think 2000 since I played with him. I mean, we've done songs here and there, at festivals overseas and things, as a four-piece, but as a tour, it's been a long time since this entity, this four-piece has been out on the road. It's going to be a blast."

Cautioning that fans shouldn't expect to hear new material during the band's initial run of shows, he mused, "Hopefully, by the end of the year we'll have an album out." Calling the prospect "doable" and keeping his fingers crossed for a January start date, he added, "We've got to use Pepper while we can get him!"

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