Rockers the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been forced to push forward the release of their new album - after the highly-anticipated CD was leaked online.

The Maps musicians were preparing to launch their third studio record It's Blitz in April.

But the group will now make the songs available for download earlier after the new material made its way on to the internet.

Tracks will now become available via download in the U.S. as early as March 10 - a month ahead of the original schedule.

The physical record will land in stores on March 31, instead of the original April 14 launch date.

The band write on their official blog, "The cat's out of the bag after IT'S BLITZ! escaped from our clutches into the big bad world last week. Why should some have and some have-not?

"YYYs have been brimming with nervous excitement in anticipation of releasing this record to the world! Leaks are NO FUN but it's out of our hands."