Releasing their debut album Appetite for Destruction in July 1987, Los Angeles rockers Gun N’ Roses became a key figure in the hard rock and heavy metal scenes. Following several acrimonious splits over the years, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have once again reunited on the road. Wrapping up their 2025 tour in early November, Axl Rose, Slash, & Co. almost immediately announced another world tour for next year. And this week, Guns N’ Roses released two new songs, marking their first new material since November 2023.
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“Nothin” and “Atlas” officially hit the airwaves Thursday (Dec. 4.) Like the other singles released since the band’s semi-reunion in 2016, both songs sprang from the Chinese Democracy recording sessions that took place from the late ’90s to 2000s. The band later reworked the material with lead guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan after they rejoined the group.
Does This Mean a New Guns N’ Roses Album is on the Way?
Guns N’ Roses hasn’t released a full-length album since 2008’s Chinese Democracy, and Slash hasn’t been a part of new material since the 1991 double-album Use Your Illusion and The Spaghetti Incident? (the worst-selling album of the band’s career) two years later. The release of two new songs has raised fans’ hopes that Guns N’ Roses’ first album in 16 years is on its way soon. During an October 2025 interview with Guitar World, however, Slash encouraged fans to temper their expectations.
“There’s so much material at this point — it’s a matter of having the discipline to sit down and f—ing get into it,” the 60-year-old guitar virtuoso explained. “But the thing with Guns is, in my experience, you can never plan ahead. You can never sit down and go, ‘We’re going to take this time, and we’re going to do this.’ Every time we’ve done that, it falls apart.”
Don’t despair, however— there is absolutely something in the pipeline.
“It just spontaneously happens through some sort of inspiration that triggers it,” Slash said. “So it’s coming. I know it’s coming because everybody is thinking about it. It’ll just happen when it happens.”
Featured image by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Power Trip
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