The Van Halen rumor mill is in full gear, with differing reports regarding the status of the band's new album popping up everywhere. Producer Ross Hogarth, who should know better than nearly anyone exactly what's up, has offered an update from the studio, reporting they’ve “just started mixing the album.”

Hogarth says “The whole Van Halen record has been recorded and we’re all excited... I’m really stoked about it, as it is the original band, Eddie and Alex with Wolf playing bass, and David Lee Roth singing.”

[Author's note: didn’t the “original band” also include Michael Anthony? We digress.]

Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti, who is friends with Wolfgang Van Halen, shared that the band had found inspiration for the new songs by working from material that they had previously demoed in the ‘80s. Of the new material, Hogarth told Ultimate Guitar that “it’s the killing side of Van Halen at the top of their game again with Diamond Dave, and the band on fire.”

There’s still no release date attached to the new material, although word continues to circulate that a new single might hit radio airwaves soon. Recently, Roth updated his official website with the cryptic message, “get ready.”

So yeah, we’re stoked. But how is this thing going to turn out? We recently considered the possibilities and outlined five things that could go right and five things that could go wrong with the new Van Halen album.

Watch Van Halen Perform 'Unchained'

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