Queen announces 1st album in 13 years

Legendary rock group Queen announced their first new album in 13 years on Wednesday, and also gave details of a European tour later this year.

The yet-to-be-named album will be released on Sept 1 and will feature Paul Rodgers, who joined the band as its frontman after Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, according to the band's website.

Rodgers, Brian May and Roger Taylor have already recorded the album, which will be the first since "Made in Heaven" was released in 1995.

It is timed for release two weeks before the group's seven-week tour through 14 European countries.

The tour will kick off in Moscow on Sept 16 and then move through Poland, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Britain, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Austria.

Notably, Queen's performance in Poland will be a free concert at the Gdansk Shipyard, the cradle of the 1980s Solidarity trade union movement.

Queen's website said that a tour of Latin America would follow, but did not give details.

According to a spokesman for the group, John Deacon chose not to participate in the tour.