Smashing Pumpkins have released the first part of their new 33-song rock opera ‘ATUM’ – listen below.

In September, the band announced the new three-part opera, serving as a sequel to the band’s classic double records ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’ (1995) and ‘Machina/The Machines Of God’ (2000).

Frontman Billy Corgan told NME about the grand ambitions for the project, explaining: “Because there’s a lot of people who believe less is more these days. I’m on the opposite side – I actually think more is more!”

Now, 11 tracks on ‘Act 1’ have been released ahead of the complete three-part opera in April next year.

Listen to ‘Act 1’ below.

The band first offered a taste of what to expect in the shape first single ‘Beguiled’, which does not actually feature on part one.

Corgan previously told NME that the track had emerged from around “80 ideas” that eventually turned into “a bunch of different demos; a riff here, a chord change, a little vocal melody”.

“And then you’d go through and say, ‘OK, these are the ones that are gonna work and seem to fit together,’” he recalled.

“I do love the song; we’ve been practising it in rehearsal ’cause we’re about to do a show in a couple of days. It rocks. It’s nice to hear it against all the other classic songs ’cause it holds up really well.”

Corgan recently admitted that the idea for a new triple album was initially met with “a big shrug” from his bandmates.

Elsewhere, Smashing Pumpkins had to cancel one of their recent shows after Corgan came down with laryngitis.