Primus' First New Studio Album in 12 Years Just Variations of Blue Oyster Cult?

In a letter that was published on Primus' official website on Monday, bassist and band leader Les Claypool revealed that a new Primus studio album -- their first since 1999's 'Antipop' -- is in its final stages of completion. "For those of you that enjoyed the new song, 'Last Salmon Man,' that we played New Year's, you'll love the record because every song basically sounds exactly the same as that one," writes Claypool. "In fact, we just kept recording the same song over and over and I would just change a few of the lyrics around."

While most people visiting Primus' website would expect a certain sarcastic tongue from Claypool, he asserts that his manager was less than pleased with his description of the new album, so he added the following clarification to his letter: "Every song is pretty much a variation of 'Don't Fear the Reaper' by Blue Oyster Cult. Everyone should buy two copies."

Claypool also lets loose the deets of an eye-catching custom bass that he recently debuted onstage -- it's actually the prototype for an ongoing design project he's been working on with a luthier friend of his, Dan Maloney. "Ideally some of these instruments I'm developing will be available at some point but I want to work with and refine the bass for a while before we start selling them," writes Claypool. "These will be quality instruments and quality takes time, care and fancy materials -- mine has diamonds in the neck."

Regardless of what the new Primus album actually ends up sounding like (our guess is that it'll sound exactly like new Primus), the reunited band is all set to storm Australia later this month, followed by a mid-summer European tour -- their first on that continent in more than a decade. The only announced U.S. date at this time is an appearance at the Hangout Music Festival (Gulf Shores, Ala.) on May 21. Regardless of what you may have heard, don't expect the setlist to be too heavy on the Blue Oyster Cult.