Pendulum are to go on hiatus for a year.

The dance rock group have been on the road ever since third album ‘Immersion’ was released last year, and after they finish their currently scheduled live dates on January 3 next year, they will take the rest of the year off to write a new album.

While playing at the Virgin Media V Festival over the weekend, frontman Rob Swire told the crowd: “We want to thank everyone who has supported Pendulum over the last five years. We’re going to take next year off to make a new album and then we’ll be back in 2013.

“We look forward to seeing you all then.”

The group will continue to play festival shows in Europe and Australia until their break starts.

It is not known what musical direction the band are planning to follow with their new record, but Rob has previously told how he thinks his band’s name is “pretty apt”, because they swing between different genres and styles often.

He said: “We’re aiming for that raw visceral sound. If we can do that and stand out in contrast to the other bands at any festival then we are happy. Our name wasn’t a conscious thing, but it’s pretty apt. We get bored quickly with what we last did and tend to want to do something completely different.”