LOS ANGELES -- [artist id="2121977"]All Time Low[/artist]'s last album, the snide-and-shiny [article id="1615543"]Nothing Personal,[/article] debuted at #4 on the Billboard albums chart and thrust them from the fringes to the mainstream spotlight, so it's sort of surprising to hear them talk about the follow-up, which, from the sound of things, is shaping up to be a very different thing indeed.

"We've tried to get a little more gritty on this one, I guess, just less polished," frontman Alex Gaskarth told MTV News on the VMA white carpet. "We had a very polished sound on the last album, and for what it was, it was perfect, but this time around, we wanted to sound a little bit more like a rock band."

"[There's] less production, bells and whistles, as they call them," drummer Rian Dawson added. "And just more ... 30 guitars."

That's a lot of guitars. And perhaps realizing those statements might worry the band's longtime fans, guitarist Jack Barakat was quick to turn things back, in a jokey, decidedly ATL fashion.

"Basically, we're the new Guns N' Roses," he laughed. "This record is going to be our Chinese Democracy. [It's] never going to come out."

He's definitely kidding about that last bit; Gaskarth said the band have basically finished the still-untitled album, which is "hopefully" due in January. Working with a team that includes producers Mike Green (who worked on Paramore's All We Know Is Falling) and Matt Squire (who did their 2007 album So Wrong, It's Right), All Time Low have created an album that's equally indebted to their past and future, as evidenced by a song called "Time Bomb," which they're hoping will be the first single.

"We have no idea about that," Gaskarth said. "There's a song called 'Time Bomb' that I hope gets out there quickly, because we all really like it. But we'll just have to wait and see."

Are you looking forward to new ATL music? Let us know in the comments!