Jonathan Davis on new music with Korn, new solo album Black Labyrinth and Download Festival

The nu-metal star will be working on material alongside the iconic band soon - but not before treating UK fans to live performances of his debut solo album Black Labyrinth, released last Friday.

Read a review of the album here.

Jonathan will bring his solo set to the Midlands when he plays Download Festival next week on Friday, June 8.

The Californian singer/songwriter, musician and actor, renowned worldwide for his unique and distinctive vocals, had to wait for more than a decade before releasing the new record due to complications with a previous label and tour commitments with Korn. He is, unsurprisingly, delighted to have now finally released the album.

Jonathan says that when creating Black Labyrinth he was looking to 'create something timeless, incorporating world music, heavy music, 80s music and some gothic stuff'.

"I’ve been waiting 11 years for this to come out. It’s really good to finish something which I started so long ago," says the father of three.

"It’s something I’m really proud of. I’ve been very patient with it. It’s been sat on my laptop for many years, so it feels really good to be able to finally release it, to talk about it and play it live.

"I’ve got so much music in my vault, but this was the first thing I started, though I do have other things in the pipeline.

"I wrote Black Labyrinth while travelling all over the world. I’ve finally found a label and had some time off to do it.

WARNING: This video contains language that some may find offensive

"People who have heard the album love it.

"There are two tracks on the album, Walk On By and the bonus track, which were written in 2010 and recorded in January this year.

"But most of them were done years ago. I’ve re-done some of the vocals and updated a few bits.

"I had to go through and take out the very best of the tracks. I wanted to use only the best of the best. It was hard to choose, but I’ll probably put some more out.

"I can’t do things I’ve done before. I always want to push myself and I want to do fun sh**. It’s for the art, not the money."

Looking ahead to future solo projects, Jonathan says he wants to release something different each time - adding that he doesn't want to 'be placed in a box' in terms of genre.

He also says he'd love to work with Duran Duran or Robert Plant moving forward.

"There’s this vampire country thing I’m looking at. There’s also a crazy jungle/black metal project," adds 47-year-old Jonathan, who lives in Bakersfield, California.

"You never know what you’re going to get from me.

"I just want to keep doing things that inspire me. I want to work with more different kinds of music; I like all kinds of music - from bassoon jazz, to country. I just love music. I’m a student of music and I’ll never stop learning.

"I’ll always keep exploring and see what I can come up with. I want to keep bringing new things."

After touring his new album, Jonathan says he is then set to return to the studio with Korn, with a view to releasing new material by the end of 2019.

"I am really excited to be doing more Korn stuff," says Jonathan.

"I’m always writing music. We’ll probably have a new Korn record out late next year.

"There’ll be no live shows for a while with Korn, as we’ll be working on the new record for the next year at least."

Looking ahead to his solo Download slot alongside his touring band, Jonathan tells fans they should expect something they've 'never seen before'.

"It’s very mellow - though still quite heavy, but don’t expect a Korn set," explains Jonathan.

"I want people to come along, kick back and take in the experience.

"It’s an escape - that’s what it’s there for. Just pure entertainment."

The star had to drop out of playing Download when Korn played the Donington Park event in 2006, due to internal bleeding caused by a bad reaction to antibiotics, which Jonathan says could have killed him.

"It was f***ed up. I took some antibiotics which caused my immune system to kill my platelets," he says.

"I began bleeding from the inside.

"It took three days for me to stabilise and then a year to recover.

"I thought I was going to die. Many people have. I should have bled out, but I got over it and I’m well again now.

"Somebody was clearly looking out for me from above.

"It was called Keflex. Do not take that sh**. It can do weird things to you. Though that is in rare cases.

"Some people can take it and be absolutely fine. I was a rare case."