It's downtime for the Backstreet Boys... until July 1, that is, when the guys are slated to walk into a studio in Sweden to officially begin work on their next album with producer Max Martin.

"We've been in the studio already, writing and doing some demos, but I think these are going to be some actual takes that we're going to do for mastering for the album," Backstreet's Howie D. recently told MTV News. "I've heard the stuff already from Sweden, and I've written a couple of things myself along with the guys. We just did a trip down to the Bahamas, where we all five wrote together for the first time as a group, and hopefully we've got a lot of great stuff that we're going to surprise everybody with." (realvideo)

As we previously reported, the group's A.J. McLean revealed that the new material prepared for the next Backstreet effort carries some varied influences, from rock, to R&B, to hip-hop, to country.

The next Backstreet offering should surface in November, but fans who can't wait that long may want to dig into the first official Backstreet Boys photo book, which is due out on July 5. The tome boasts rare and candid snapshots taken by the group's official photographer, Andre Csillag. -- Kara Manning