Hello there, and welcome to Guitar World editors’ picks – our monthly guide to the guitar tracks that have captured the attentions of our editors over the past four weeks or so.
With the aid of our Spotify playlist below, we’ve rounded up all our favorite new releases from the month of June, and put them under the microscope to wax lyrical on the playing, tones, and songwriting that have set our six-string senses a-tingling.
This month, there's plenty to pick from, with new cuts courtesy of Wet Leg, Deftones, Mirador, Big Wreck, Eric Gales, Dream Nails and many more...
Michael Astley-Brown – GuitarWorld.com Editor-in-Chief
I’ve long touted Ian Thornley as perhaps the most underrated guitarist on the planet – with blistering alternate-picking ability and a deft touch and musicality – and he’s just put out the one of the most Van Halen tracks since, well, Van Halen. Big Wreck’s Holy Roller is an homage to Eddie’s legacy on guitar playing: jaw-dropping riffs, wild whammy flourishes, thrilling solos and, inevitably, two-hand tapping. Nuno Bettencourt isn’t the only one keeping EVH’s flame burning – Thornley just gave him a run for his money.
Two icons of Noughties alt-metal have been tapping into my teenaged guitar loves this month: Daron Malakian has served up the best thing this side of a new System of a Down record with Addicted to the Violence. It got me searching Ibanez Iceman guitars on eBay for the first time in decades, which is probably the best indicator of its quality.
![deftones - my mind is a mountain [official music video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eVqZrI9JE6Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
Also: Deftones are finally back. I live in the UK, which means I probably won’t see Stephen Carpenter perform onstage ever again, but at least I can still enjoy his Meshuggah-for-mortals riffing on record. my mind is a mountain plays to Deftones’ increasingly younger audience with its lower-case song title, but it’s as uncompromisingly heavy as anything from the past decade of ’tones tracks, with some excellent nods to Metallica, too.
Disengaging my gain channel for a second and stepping on my filthiest fuzz, can we all give it up to Wednesday for fusing alt-country, indie-folk and grunge and making it work so utterly seamlessly? The band’s guitarist MJ Lenderman is a star in his own right now, but it remains an utter treat for the ears to hear his dirty leads crossing axes with lap steel maestro Xandy Chelmis’ yearning fade-ins.
Matt Parker – Deputy Editor
I’m kicking things off with two Third Man releases (that’s the label side of Jack White’s musical empire). Obviously, it would be more poetic if I had three, but life is annoying like that, so settle down...
Die Spitz’s second album Something To Consume arrives in September and they’re a four-piece force of nature that is capable of drifting from dreamy classic rock to frantic punk and metallic riffage. They do the latter particularly well on new single, Throw Yourself to the Sword, which is not so much about falling on your sword as flailing it about wildly in the face of overwhelming odds, all in the hope that you take at least one of these pricks down with you. But in a positive way.
It’s the kind of gravelly, menacing hardcore-influenced riff that slamdances its way across the floor at you and it’s all wrapped up with the exact type of scrappy, Stooges-esque outro solo that I love. (Side note: more solos should be saved for outros).
My second, er, Third Man comes from Snooper and clocks in at 2.41, which by their standards is essentially a prog epic. Worldwide is a frantic, fuzzy earworm and a nice reminder of all the (very brief) good times I had listening to their debut two years ago.
All of this running about requires a slow jam tonic, which has come courtesy Hermanos Gutierrez and Leon Bridges in the form of Elegantly Wasted. Bridges’ previous collaborations with Khruangbin (in particular, Texas Sun) have become a go-to end-of-a-long-day listen for me and this hits similarly, with Hermanos Gutierrez bringing out a little more funk flavor from their, as ever, beautifully-crafted guitar work.
Matt Owen – News Editor
Who had a Justin Bieber/Mk.gee crossover on their bingo card for 2025? Well, anyone who read the news last year that the two were collaborating probably did. Still, we were surprised just how… Mk.gee the whole record sounds. DAISIES, recorded and produced by everyone’s favorite fast-rising lo-fo guitar star, is perhaps the best track of the album, and wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Two Star and the Dream Police sequel. It’s a testament to Mk.gee’s influence on the wider music scene and, by extension, yet further evidence that the guitar in mainstream pop music is still very much a thing. Even if you’re not a Belieber, DAISIES is essential listening.
Having seen Biffy Clyro play at a festival a few weeks back, I have rekindled my obsession with the Scottish alt rock outfit (they effectively soundtracked my college years), and although I may have dipped out from their past few records, I am very much ready to receive the new one. Both singles have been excellent, Hunting Season in particular, with quintessential Clyro with kaleidoscopic riffs and cavernous soundscapes of all-out rock. As an aside, this was the month I found out that the ‘Biffy Clyro’ name was inspired by an imaginary Cliff Richard Biro pen – Cliffy Biro, Biffy Clyro, geddit? Moving on…
The blues is never far away from my playlist, and it doesn’t get much better than Eric Gales, who teamed up with his close friend and fellow virtuoso Joe Bonamassa for Don’t Want To Go Home. It seems to be something of an event when these two link up – remember that epic solo battle on I Want My Crown from 2022? – and this track continues that tradition with aplomb. Yet another hot bed of pentatonic phrasing inspiration.
Last but not least, I’ve been playing Nieve Ella’s new track – Good Grace – a concerning amount over the past few weeks, but I promise it’s not my fault. It’s an indie rock song done right, all killer, no filler. The riff is ruthless, the hook is irresistible, and the guitar tones are delightful. It’s probably already made its way into my 2025 Spotify Wrapped playlist…
Janelle Borg – Staff Writer
Marissa Nadler's soothing voice and fingerstyle mastery in Hatchet Man are very much welcome this (very stormy) afternoon while I'm writing my monthly track roundup. It's the perfect accompaniment to this weather (and yes, a warm drink in the middle of summer) – with lush, Everly Brothers–style harmonies and an intricate and eerie acoustic guitar accompaniment that underscores the melancholic story being told.
Jehnny Beth returns with a genre-hopping new track, No Good For People, that's as hard-hitting as it is inventive, as we've come to expect from Beth's post-Savages work. A vignette of growling, grunge-style guitar/bass gives way to a more electro-punk sound – made even more visceral and sinister by the Lynchian visuals that accompany the track.
Speaking of grunge-leaning sounds, Dream Nails have gone through several iterations and lineups over the past few years, and the latest, composed of longtime members Lucy on drums, Mimi on vocals and bass, and Anya on guitars, is the outfit's most musically self-assured yet.
Organoid is an unapologetic mix of grunge and punk that captures the current zeitgeist – and while it's got unmistakable nods to the nineties, it still manages to sound fresh and contemporary without leaning too heavily into nostalgia.
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