Released last October as part of a 64-page album/book combo, Throwing Muses’ first new album in a decade — the 32-track Purgatory/Paradise — will be issued next month on both double LP and cassette by HHBTM Records, the label announced this morning.

Throwing Muses return this fall with their first new record in a decade, but it’s much more than just an album: Purgatory/Paradise is being published as a 64-page book designed by drummer Dave Narcizo featuring lyrics, stories and essays by Kristin Hersh, not to mention the 32-track album on CD.

The long wait is nearly over for fans of the Throwing Muses, as frontwoman Kristin Hersh this morning announced via Twitter the completion of the band’s long-in-the-works ninth album, which, upon its expected release sometime next year, will mark the Muses’ first new record in a decade.

As promised, the Throwing Muses will support the release of the 4AD band’s forthcoming best-of set ‘Anthology’ — which initially will be released in a deluxe package with a second disc of B-sides and rare cuts — with live dates, including a just-announced 15-date tour of Europe and the United Kingdom this fall.

Throwing Muses today wrapped up initial recording sessions for the 4AD band’s first new album in eight years, a process that frontwoman Kristin Hersh and her bandmates have documented through a series of short, in-studio video clips.