It’s been five long years of waiting for the U2 fans but the Irish rockers are back with a new single from their highly anticipated upcoming album due in February.

The band’s first single in five years called “Get On Your Boots,” made its debut on Monday, first on RTE, Ireland’s state broadcasters, then for free on the group’s website.

In the spirit of a longtime tradition, U2, who has given Irish broadcaster Dave Fanning the first listen to their work, released the song on Fanning’s morning RTE 2FM show. 

Fans were also able to get a first taste on the “big song with lots of layers, but not overproduced,” as Fanning described it, online on www.u2.com. Also displayed on the website is the record’s stunning cover. According to the band, the photograph was taken by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto and represents “an image of the sea meeting the sky.”

Driven by the Edge’s eccentric guitar followed by Adam Clayton’s bass riffs that immediately blast from the speakers, the sound of “Get On Your Boots” resembles songs from the band’s 1991 album, “Achtung Baby.” The guitar has always been the primary color in the U2 spectrum.

In the mix of hard-rocking instruments, the lyrics get political as Bono sings about “submarines, gasoline” and not wanting “to talk about wars between nations,” before shifting into a vocal harmony-laden refrain of “you don't know how beautiful you are.”

“Get On Your Boots” will be released as a digital download on February 15 and will be in shops on February 16. It will be available in the iTunes Plus format, Apple’s DRM-free format.

After nearly two years of working in recording studios in New York, London, Dublin and Morocco, the band’s 12th studio album “No Line on the Horizon” was completed and it contains 11 songs. The record, which is widely forecast to become the biggest-selling album of 2009, will hit the stores on February 27 in Ireland, March 2 in the UK, and March 3 in the US.

The full track listing for the album, according to U2's web page is:

“No Line on the Horizon”
”Magnificent”
”Moment of Surrender”
”Unknown Caller”
”I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight”
”Get On Your Boots”
”Stand Up Comedy”
”Fez — Being Born”
”White as Snow”
”Breathe”
”Cedars of Lebanon”

The entire album is available for pre-order (both the standard and a deluxe edition) in the iTunes store.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the Edge described the title track as “very raw and very to the point,” while Bono said the song “Crazy Tonight” was “kind of like this album's 'Beautiful Day' — it has that kind of joy to it.”

In related news, U2 have been announced to make a live appearance, delivering “Get On Your Boots” at this year's BRIT Awards to be aired on ITV1. They will be performing the self-written track on Wednesday, February 18 at London's Earls Court.