Bloc Party will release their new album in three days time (August 21).

The band announced the shock release during a webchat with fans on blocparty.com today (August 18).

NME.COM can exclusively reveal that 'Intimacy', the band's third album, is available to pre-order on CD and mp3 from http://blocparty.sandbag.uk.com now.

Fans can choose whether to pay either £5 for a high-quality mp3 bundle (to be delivered on August 21), £8 for a CD (to be delivered on October 27), or £10 for a combined order of both CD and mp3 bundle.

'Intimacy' was recorded in two separate sessions, as the band chose to work with both Paul Epworth and Jacknife Lee on the record.

The CD release of 'Intimacy' will include additional tracks unavailable on the mp3 bundle release.

New Bloc Party Album Out Digitally on Thursday

They say you should try to make more room for Intimacy in your life, and if you're free on Thursday, Bloc Party would like very much to get all up in your business.

On August 21-- as in this Thursday-- Bloc Party will digitally release Intimacy, their unexpectedly imminent third full-length LP.

A physical release of Intimacy, featuring different tracks from the digital incarnation, is due October 28 from Atlantic in the U.S., and October 27 in the UK via Wichita. You can flip on over to the Bloc Party website to preorder your copy of Intimacy in whichever form you please right this instant, if you'd like. If you pre-order the physical version, you get the digital version as well.

Intimacy is being released in this increasingly more orthodox fashion to combat the kind of leakage that got A Weekend in the City out on the web many months before its eventual release. The album was produced by Silent Alarm's Paul Epworth and Weekend's Jackknife Lee and mixed by Alan Moulder (My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins), and it's being described as "wildly experimental" in parts and "simply classic Bloc Party" in others.

I just wanna know if "Biko" is a Peter Gabriel cover, and, given how much first single "Mercury" sounds like a jacked up "Shock the Monkey", I reckon I won't be surprised if it is.

But I digress. New Bloc Party album! For the weekend!

Bloc Party have a few dates to attend to throughout the coming months, and promise more in the States later on in 2008.

Intimacy:

01 Ares
02 Mercury
03 Halo
04 Biko
05 Trojan Horse
06 Signs
07 One Month Off
08 Zephyrus
09 Better Than Heaven
10 Ion Square

Bloc Party:

08-21 Dublin, Ireland - Marlay Park
08-23 Reading, England - Reading Festival
08-24 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
09-05 Detroit, MI - Royal Oak
09-06 Toronto, Ontario - Virgin Festival
09-09 Edmonton, Alberta - Edmonton Events Centre #
09-10 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwan Hall #
09-12 Quebec City, Quebec - Envol Macadam
09-13 Fredericton, New Brunswick - Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival
09-14 Halifax, Nova Scotia - The Marquee Club ^
09-15 Halifax, Nova Scotia - The Marquee Club ^
09-17 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis %

# with Foals
^ with Apostle of Hustle
% with Holy Fuck

interesting. hopefully it doesn't suck like their last song and weekend in the city.

damn i just realized mercury is on it, nevermind.

MY MERCURY
MERC MERC MERC MERCURY

i tried liking WITC, but it was just a forgettable album with some decent songs.

I hope this one is better, as I do like them as a live act.

listen to the new song, Trojan Horse

http://www.myspace.com/blocparty

hmm not sure what i think, better than mercury.

Hmm, really didn't care for WITC, new single sounds alright. but I dunno.........

well, its going to suck

not even paul epworth and jacknife lee can polish a turd.

well Paul Epworth is the only hope for this album
he did a great job with the Primal Scream and Late Of The Pier records this year

the guy is a monster

and Killamangiro

it'd be next to impossible to be worse than Mercury...

quite possibly the worst single of 2008

holy shit this album is unbelievably awful...
maybe 2 or 3 songs that i could even stomach without reaching for the skip button

it honestly makes the last album seem somewhat decent by comparison.

this deserves any and all awful reviews it may get

that was exciting solace

i knew this probably would be bad but the reviews i'm seeing are utterly atrocious.

ares is supposed to be particularly bad.

with the names involved, how could they note realize?

this really could be a Kele solo record at times... his voice is so high in the mix (and often annoying as all hell)
not to mention that a good portion of the record lacks what made BP good in the first place (their rhythm section)

Halo's the only really good track on here so far. Signs and Ion Square are particularly horrendous... they sound like the Postal Service or something.

terrible production

oh man, its really that bad

their 2nd album is gold compared to this one