“Ma, ma, ma, ma maaad, maad, mad.”

Muse have just released their official first single (no, “Survival” as the Olympic theme song and the preorder bonus “The 2nd Law: Unsustainable” don’t count as first singles) and it has already received feedback from every possible angle.

From the lovers, to the haters, to the “I miss old Muse,” to the new fans taking it all in, the track has had so many varied responses.

Personally, I like it. But then again, I’m a diehard Muser and I’m open to their whole ‘recreating their sound’ thing. Yes, I miss the insane guitar riffs, not being able to understand Matt Bellamy’s falsetto wailing, and powerful bass lines, but I know that this is only one track off of the album. I still have high expectations. (Even if “Unsustainable” is part guitar dubstep, and “Survival” is cheesy, they both have parts of them that are epic)

Keeping with the recreating of their sound theme, if you listen to this song without knowing it was Muse, you might not actually know it was Muse. I guess I find that refreshing, because as much as I do love “Hysteria” and “Supermassive Black Hole” and the other singles that have topped the charts, hearing that same sound all the time would get droning.

And also, look at their earlier albums. There are other examples of slower songs mixed in with heavy rock anthems, it’s just what Muse does. Bellamy even told Rolling Stone that the band is “defined by the fact that we can’t be defined by anybody.”

Focusing on the actual song now, “Madness” sounds like it takes influence from U2 and George Michael, with Bellamy’s voice crooning and caressing the idea of true love over synth pop beats. Yes, Muse does synth pop and uses drum machines with their new sound. But, you know, I don’t hate it.

I especially like the guitar part in the bridge where Bellamy proves his true musicianship with his traditional fast fingerpicking. The swirling guitar almost even sounds a bit Queen-ish, which we know they’ve been influenced by for a while now.

While it’s not exactly my favorite, I don’t hate it, I even find it catchy, and I’m certainly not going to judge a whole album based on it. After all, we’ve gotten three songs off of The 2nd Law and each one is different. Plus, Chris Wolstenholme wrote and sings two songs, so I’m really excited for that.

Listen for yourself:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq9zhpBweDk&w=560&h=315]