[Source: NME.com] Green Day have announced the release date of their highly anticipated forthcoming studio album.

21st Century Breakdown is due to be released worldwide on Friday 15 May.

As previously reported, the band’s first studio album since 2004’s American Idiot is divided into three acts: ‘Heroes and Cons’; ‘Charlatans and Saints’; and ‘Horseshoes and Handgrenades’, and “follows a young couple, Christian and Gloria, through the mess and promise of the century so far”.

Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong also declared that the album was fuelled by his distrust of politicians.

The album’s first single will be “Know Your Enemy”, which is set to be released in April.

Get this week’s issue of NME, on UK newsstands now, for an exclusive first listen to the album.