Madame Mayhem’s New Song “Broken” is Your Hard Rock Jam of the Day

Madame Mayhem’s 2017 album Ready for Me was one of my favorite albums of the year, that rare hard rock record that melds nuanced, complex songwriting — so rare in the genre — with the hooks and riffs that’ve come to define it in recent years. In today’s “active rock” radio world, which hasn’t changed a lick in nearly two decades, the diamonds in the rough are even more difficult to find, and that’s why Ready for Me stuck with me so much: it was handily a cut above.

Mayhem has returned with a one-off single, “Broken,” and it’s every bit of what I’d hope to here in new music from her. Interestingly the song was co-written with Keith Wallen of Breaking Benjamin — one of the very bands I’d put high up on the list of the aforementioned active rock radio problem — but, as it so often goes with side projects, his contributions here are way more creative than those of his day job. The track also features Ray Luzier of Korn on drums and the legendary Billy Sheehan on bass — Mayhem has not skimped on personnel here! — and it shows, with an absolutely killer-sounding final product.

Check out “Broken” below, and prepare for it to be stuck in your head all afternoon. No word yet on a new album.