Skunk Anansie have recorded their first album in almost a decade, with the project inspired by bassist Richard ‘Cass’ Lewis’ stage four cancer battle.

The group – also starring Skin, Ace and Mark Richardson – will release ‘The Painful Truth’ on May 23, serving as the follow-up to 2016’s ‘Anarchytecture’.

Speaking during a playback of the album this week, Cass told listeners he thought his “fucking cards had been marked” after getting the diagnosis.

“During the process of recording I was diagnosed with stage four cancer and so I was having chemo while we were making the album,” he said (via The Independent).

“I thought my fucking cards had been marked, actually, and so I was just, I was happy with having had a good life, and I was quite content, you know, I accepted whatever my fate was.

“I wouldn’t think about the work, the record, I would think about my life. I’d had some very intensive chemo sessions, and no one knew [anything]. I just thought, I’m on this long road of chemo. And that took a year.”

After being declared cancer-free, Cass and the rest of the group returned to the studio to resume work on the project, as he recalled how Skin’s daughter informed her that “Uncle Cass” wasn’t sick anymore.

“About two weeks later, I had to go and have tests to see how the chemo was affecting me, and they couldn’t find any cancer,” he continued.

“So from stage four, it disappeared. So her little angel is my little angel. As soon as I knew that I wasn’t going anywhere, I was ‘Just get back on the record. There’s nothing better to work for!”

And Skin went on to reveal that the “emotional” album chronicles everything Skunk Anansie have faced together “over the last few years”, with the frontwoman sharing: “That’s what all the songs are about, that connects everything, that connects what we’ve been through over the last few years.

“It’s the connection with these guys. I love them to bits, you know, they’re my brothers.

“What we’re going through, and everything, it’s quite emotional, it’s the painful truth. It’s what you’re here for, and what’s important in your life, and what you’re going to do about it. That’s the painful truth!”

In a statement about ‘The Painful Truth’, the star added: “I don’t care that we were big in the ’90s. Creatively it’s irrelevant because in my rock bible the first commandment states, ‘If thy rest on them laurels thy shall wither up and die artistically, musically, mentally. And then financially.’”

‘The Painful Truth’ is out May 23 and available to pre-order from Amazon, HMV, Rough Trade, Townsend and more.