One Direction reveal new album Four and give away free song 'Fireproof'

The band will return with the follow-up to Midnight Memories in November

Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan of One Direction on stage (Getty Images)

One Direction have announced the forthcoming release of their fourth studio album in a video message to fans.

The five-piece will follow-up last year’s bestselling UK album, Midnight Memories, with new record Four.

It is available to pre-order now and includes free song “Fireproof”, which fans can download from the band’s official website as a “special thank you”.

Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson have penned the track along with “Story of My Life” cowriters, Julian Bunetta, John Ryan and Jamie Scott.

“We’re so excited to announce our fourth album, Four!” a statement from the boys read. “We’ve worked incredibly hard writing and recording it whilst we’ve been on the road and we couldn’t have done it without your support.

“We hope you enjoy it and we can’t wait for you to listen to the album in full. Thank you, you guys mean the world to us.”

Four will arrive on 17 November following their 69-date stadium tour Where We Are and their latest film documentary, This Is Us.

One Direction formed in 2010 after being put together by Simon Cowell on The X Factor. They went on to achieve world success with albums Up All Night, Take Me Home and Midnight Memories.

Last month, Cowell took to Twitter to clear up rumours that One Direction would soon be going their separate ways.

“It is my guess and my hope One D will stay together for a very long time,” he wrote. “The boys are having the best time and as I said recently, their new album is really, really good.”