Sammy Hagar has revealed that the new Chickenfoot album is "the best record" he has ever made.
The super-group - which also consists of Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith will release their second album titled, 'Chickenfoot III' on September 27, 2011 through eOne Music.
The former Van Halen frontman was speaking with Rolling Stone about the new LP which was recorded mostly live at Hagar's Northern California studio.
However, even with the mammoth experience that each member brings to the Chickenfoot table, Hagar reveals a bout of writers block severely slowed down the recording process:
"I was being negative, and I fought with myself," says Hagar, who writes most of the lyrics. "The music Joe was presenting was so good, I honestly beat myself up for the first time ever. I didn't want to walk in with something mediocre."
Proceedings took another turn for the worst when the bands manager, John Carter died of cancer in May. They pay tribute to him on 'Up Next' and lead guitarist Joe Satriani said:
"Now, when I listen to the record, I can hear the dark cloud. I didn't hear it at the time. I think it's because we were trying so hard to keep our nose to the grind, and keep a good face for Carter."
"It wasn't fun trying to make the record," Hagar adds. "But when I listened back, I got the goose bumps."
Both Hagar and Satriani are in agreement that the new album is "better & deeper" than the last and is more "musical" than the last record:
"It's a lot more musical than the last record – the hooks and the songs are better," says Hagar. Satriani adds, "We created a record that was deeper and better than the first one . . . it makes a musician very happy when they can see that they are involved with something that's very moving forward and life-changing."