Guns N’ Roses Dip Into Classic Sound on New Singles, Bombastic Rocker ‘Atlas’ and Turbulent Ballad ‘Nothin’

Guns N’ Roses have forever see-sawed between singer Axl Rose’s penchant for Elton John-style florid piano/synth rock and a grittier, bombastic hard rock style influenced by their metal and punk forefathers. In an early Christmas gift to their fans on Thursday (Dec. 4), the veteran band stuffed a bit of each into their stockings via a pair of new songs.

The latest in a series of loosies the group has sprinkled out over the past few years, the swooning ballad “Nothin’” brings to mind such GNR classics as “November Rain” and “Don’t Cry,” while the more hard-charging “Atlas” is a straight-on rocker that fans are sure to dive into given the veteran band’s meager studio output over the past 17 years.

“Nothin’” opens with plaintive keyboards as Rose sings “There’s nothing I could see/ That would mean more to me/ Than what you are to me/ All my love,” before the arrangement cranks up, with the drums and churning electric guitars swelling and then receding as Rose climbs into his classic high register to wail about love redemption and salvation when it feels like no one else is there to save him. Then, of course, there is a crying, bluesy solo from guitarist Slash, who sounds in peak form as he provides the instrumental compliment to Rose’s love lament, including a moving section at the three-minute mark that is reminiscent of the iconic guitar opening to Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter.”

The turbulent four-minute journey crashes to a close with Rose desperately wailing, “without your love I’ll never make it.”

On the flip-side, “Atlas” charges out of the gate with a more aggressive posture, with a hard-charging rock attack and yet another signature Slash solo at the three-minute mark on the song that was also reportedly first conceived during the sessions for 2008’s eternally gestating Chinese Democracy. Both songs are credited to the full band, with production credit to Rose and Caram Costanzo (Janet Jackson, Rage Against the Machine); Costanzo co-produced Chinese Democracy alongside Rose.

The songs are the first tracks from the band since the 2023 two-fers of “The General” and “Perhaps” and “Hard Skool” and “Absurd” in 2021. While Slash recently told Guitar World that there is “so much” material for a new album, at press time there was no definitive word about what would be the group’s first LP of new material since 1991’s Use Your Illusion I and II; Slash and founding bassist Duff McKagan left the group in 1996 and 1997, respectively, and re-joined in 2016.

The songs come as GNR are gearing up for massive 2026 world tour that will include summer stadium and amphitheater dates in North America, as well as South American and European shows.

Listen to “Nothin’” and “Atlas” below.