We're still nearly two months away from when Coldplay's fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, drops (June 17 in the United States), but today, the band is throwing fans a bone by releasing a song from the album to download for one week only. The song is called "Violet Hill" and is the eighth track on the album that is supposedly taking the band in a new creative direction.

In addition to the early download today, the band will also play two free shows in support of the new album, one in London and one at Madison Square Garden in New York City. A few details about the London show are on the band's site now.

To grab your own copy of the song, go here and fill out a short form that asks for your Zip code and e-mail address. The site will then e-mail you directions for downloading the song. A lot of people must be doing this, so beware that it could take a while for you to get the e-mail — mine took more than three hours!

The song definitely hints at a new, somewhat harder sound for Coldplay, but it also doesn't feel that out of step with the material they've released before. Now I'm curious to see if the full album will live up to the hype — not to mention the commercial success they've experienced thus far.

If you're busy waiting for your own copy of "Violet Hill," or if you want to know if the song is worth checking out, you can hear it if you read more.

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