AceShowbiz -

Even after the arguably pretty bitter "Back to Black", Amy Winehouse is still striving for a dark mood for her album. A friend of the "Rehab" singer who has heard her new materials said that the third studio album from Winehouse will be "darker than ever" because she has been writing songs about death.

A friend revealed to The Sun, "Her next album is darker than ever. Amy's got low self-esteem anyway but her skin has made her want to hide away from the rest of the world. And we have started noticing more and more cuts on her arms." Winehouse has been kept inside her place due to contagious skin disease called impetigo and has since recorded from her home studio.

"Her problems are pushing her over the edge and she's turning into a depressed recluse," the friend added. "It's not good for her to stay in so much. People try to get her to leave the house and tell her not to worry about what people say. But she'd rather sit around her dingy flat all day writing about death."

Winehouse has been in a state of decline since her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, is incarcerated due to club brawl in June last year. The friend however, said that the Grammy Award-winning singer works best when she is down. The source continued that although the new materials are very dark, "she produces some of her best music when she's in pain - and the past few months have been hell for her. She might have all this fame and wealth but she's never been so down as she is now."

It was revealed sometime ago that Winehouse will be working with Mark Ronson once again and was in talks to purchase Wheeler End Studio in Berkshire to record the album with him.