Three years after announcing they were winding down their career, German hard rock veterans SCORPIONS appear to have changed their minds.

In an interview in the new issue of Classic Rock magazine, the band's lead singer, Klaus Meine, explained: "As the emotion built, it [not retiring] became a gradual decision. It's one thing to say, 'This is going to be the end of the SCORPIONS,' and another to do it. Our 'Sting In The Tail' album [2010] was such a success that a whole new generation of fans joined the party. It was amazing. And you know that with all the best parties, it's sometimes hard to find the door?"

SCORPIONS spent the first three months of 2012 in the studio with producers Mikael "Nord" Andersson and Martin Hansen resurrecting a dozen unfinished songs from what some people believe was the band's best and most creative period — leftovers from the albums "Blackout" (1982), "Love At First Sting" (1984), "Savage Amusement" (1988) and "Crazy World" (1990) — for an album that is tentatively scheduled for release later this year. "It will be material that was never finished; songs with pure SCORPIONS DNA from a very exciting time," Meine confirmed to Classic Rock. "Once we close the book on the crazy touring schedule, that's something we'll pick up again." An album of all-new SCORPIONS material may surface as well, according to Meine. "At this point nothing is out of the question," he said. "When we said adios with 'Sting In The Tail', our label, Sony Music, cried, 'No, no, no… What about this idea? What about that idea?' There are some offers you just can't refuse. I don't want to say too much right now, but I can reassure you there is still life in those bloody old SCORPIONS."

He added: "We'll just have to see what's realistic. We're working on a documentary movie about the band's history. We filmed the tour's big finale in Munich, which was very emotional."

Fan-filmed video footage of SCORPIONS' July 7, 2012 concert at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York can be seen below.