WELSH rockers Manic Street Preachers have announced their return to active duty with details of a new album and massive UK tour.

Resistance Is Futile, the band’s 13th studio album, is due for release on April 6 2018.

Of their first new recordings in four years, the band said: “The main themes of Resistance is Futile are memory and loss; forgotten history; confused reality and art as a hiding place and inspiration.

"It’s obsessively melodic - in many ways referencing both the naive energy of Generation Terrorists and the orchestral sweep of Everything Must Go. After delay and difficulties getting started, the record has come together really quickly over the last few months through a surge of creativity and some old school hard work.”

Following the twin musical departures of 2013’s largely acoustic Rewind the Film and the glacial electronics of 2014’s Futurology, Resistance Is Futile heralds a return to a classic Manics sound described by the band as widescreen melancholia.

The songs on the album are the first recorded in the band’s new Door to the River studio (near Newport).

To coincide with the release of Resistance Is Futile, the band have announced their biggest series of UK live shows in over a decade, including a date Arena Birmingham on April 27.

Tickets for the Arena Birmingham date are on sale now from theticketfactory.com or by calling 0844 33 88 222.

Tickets priced at £41.78 / £54.10 (includes admin fees and 90p facility fee) plus £2.55 fulfilment fee per order.