Scottish experimental rockers Mogwai [ tickets ] are set to return to the U.S. for a string of dates in March following the release of their latest album, "Mr. Beast."

The five-piece band will hit the U.S. after finishing up an early year run in Europe and Japan, kicking off its stateside tenure with a March 3 show in Chicago, the first of 12 appearances currently scheduled in this country.

The U.S. shows will coincide with the March 7 release of "Mr. Beast," Mogwai's fifth studio album. Recorded between April and October 2005 in the band's own Castle of Doom studios in Glasgow, "Mr. Beast" was produced by Tony Doogan, who also produced the band's 2003 release, "Happy Songs for Happy People."

According to Mogwai, the album marks a return to a harder-edged sound after recent albums showed off a softer side of the band.

"We consciously tried to have some louder music on this album, because we had begun to realize that there was a big difference between our live shows and our records, and there was no real reason for that," guitarist/vocalist Stuart Braithwaite said in a press release.

"We wanted to make a record that we were going to enjoy playing live, because when we're on stage, we like the songs where we're really going for it more than the ones where we're just kind of plinking away."

A streaming version of the new album's first single, "Friend of the Night," can be found at the band's MySpace website.

Mogwai was formed in Glasgow in 1996 by guitarist/vocalist Stuart Braithwaite, guitarist Dominic Aitchison and drummer Martin Bulloch. They later added John Cummings and ex-Teenage Fan Club member Brendan O'Hare. Mogwai's debut album was 1997's "Young Team," which was followed in 1999 by "Come on Die Young" and 2001's "Rock Action."