Guns N’ Roses Share New Single “ABSURD”

In 2008, after a long absence and years of build-up, legendary rock band Guns N’ Roses delivered their most recent album Chinese Democracy. Since then, lead singer Axl Rose and guitarist Slash have put aside their long-running feud and the band has toured steadily, including a few stadium shows in the last few days, where they debuted their new single “ABSURD,” officially releasing it Friday.

Originally an unreleased song called “Silkworms” from the Chinese Democracy era, “ABSURD” (officially written with a backwards ‘R’) is the first new Guns N’ Roses track in 13 years, and also the first single to feature Slash and longtime bassist Duff McKagan since their respective departures from the group. Raging, heavy and almost punk-like, “ABSURD” proves that the band haven’t softened their approach to writing biting rock music, especially as Axl Rose’s distorted voice moves like a snow plow through the instrumental, painting gruesome pictures in his lyrics.

Guns N’ Roses are reportedly working on the follow-up to Chinese Democracy, which will be the first project from the band to feature Slash and McKagan since 1993’s The Spaghetti Incident. Check out the visualizer for “ABSURD” below, and revisit our ranking of the eight best Guns N’ Roses side projects here.