Hello there, and welcome to Guitar World Editors’ Picks – our monthly guide to the guitar tracks that have captured the attention 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 this spooky season, a.k.a. October, and noted our personal highlights – the playing, tones, and songwriting that most set our six-string senses a-tingling.
Highlights this month include the new Queens of the Stone Age album, Tony Iommi’s first album in over two decades, frenetic metal from England-based multinational band Calva Louise, and experimentation galore from The Mars Volta.
All that and much more in our playlist below.
Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has been writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist for over 15 years, and recording and performing in original and function bands for two decades-plus. During his career, he has interviewed everyone from John Frusciante to Chris Cornell, Matt Bellamy and Billy Corgan. His writing also appears in The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you’ll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.
Track of the month: Tony Iommi – Over the Violent Sun
This month saw the release of Tony Iommi’s first new album in 21(!) years, and From the Dark lays bare his eternal influence on the world of metal. Standout cut Over the Violent Sun is one of the best riffs I’ve heard all year – and it came from a 78-year-old.
In an age where we’ve given up all hope of some of rock’s other big beasts ever putting out new material – whatever happened to that Jimmy Page solo album, eh? – it’s invigorating to hear Iommi turning out songs that give guitarists a quarter of his age a run for their money.
Also playing:
- Grace Bowers – 19
- Shy, Low – The Bloat
- Fontaines D.C. – Demolition
Matt is Deputy Editor for GuitarWorld.com. Before that he spent 10 years as a freelance music journalist, interviewing artists for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.
Track of the month: Purple Pilgrims – Outside
Fall is always a busy time for the music industry, so it’s been a tough call this month. Power Trip’s return is huge news, Calva Louise’s La Promesa is bonkers, brilliant and brutal in equal measure, and I remain addicted to Cleopatrick’s slurred take on rock. Somehow, though, amid all this noise, for me it is the woozy Outside from New Zealand dream-pop duo Purple Pilgrims that has won through and been played almost daily across October.
There are elements of ’60s pastoral folk heroes like Vashti Bunyan, Beach House’s cavernous space and floating tones, and muted rhythm parts that twinkle in and out of the mix. It is an enveloping listen that – in unison with the lyrics – brings you from the outside in. The album Given to the Night (due November 27) has much more to offer, too.
Also playing:
- Power Trip – Precinct 13
- Calva Louise – La Promesa
- Cleopatrick – WHAAT
Matt is the GuitarWorld.com News Editor, and has been writing and editing for the site for five years. He has a Masters in the guitar, a degree in history, and has spent the last 19 years playing everything from blues and jazz to indie and pop. During his GW career, he’s interviewed Peter Frampton, Zakk Wylde, Tosin Abasi, Matteo Mancuso and more, and has profiled the CEOs of Guitar Center and Fender.
When he’s not combining his passion for writing and music during his day job, Matt performs with indie rock duo Esme Emerson, and has previously opened for the likes of Ed Sheeran, Keane, Japanese House and Good Neighbours.
Track of the month: Queens of the Stone Age – From the Cliff
My entry for this month almost looked very different, but given I’ve been spinning the new Queens of the Stone Age record this morning, it forced me into a little rethink. Because this isn’t your regular QOTSA album – this one is far more brooding, almost melancholic, quite clearly inspired by the band’s acoustic turn in the Parisian catacombs last year.
Don’t expect too much by way of ear-shattering riffs and guzzling guitars. Yes, there are frenetic interludes led by Josh Homme – Sunday’s gallop fits nicely into that vibe –, but they are the exception here.
Instead, Homme and co. go big on the acoustics, leaning into a far more quirky edge. That’s no more apparent than on the jangly fingerstyle folk of From The Cliff – a lovely see-sawing number with layered arpeggios.
Also playing:
- Remi Wolf, John Mayer – Moon So High
- Molly Tuttle – 9 to 5
- Polyphia – Let There Be Light
Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology and how it is shaping the future of the music industry, and has a special interest in shining a spotlight on traditionally underrepresented artists and global guitar sounds. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Melissa Auf der Maur, Yvette Young, Danielle Haim, Fanny, and Karan Katiyar from Bloodywood, among others. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her Anglo-Maltese, art-rock band ĠENN.
Track of the month: The Mars Volta – Voice In My Knives / Poseedora De Mi Sombra & The Iron Rose
There’s no better band for a dose of much-needed out-of-the-box inspiration and pre-Halloween eeriness than The Mars Volta. This month, we’ve been treated to not only one, but two (or, rather, three) Mars Volta gems: The Iron Rose – which dropped today – and the 20-ish-minute-long Voice In My Knives / Poseedora De Mi Sombra, released earlier this month.
And while they’re not entirely new tracks (they’re reimagined renditions of their 2025 in-studio counterparts, after all), they capture a project that’s constantly in motion – both sonically and conceptually. When it comes to The Mars Volta, albums aren’t static paintings, made to be exhibited in a museum, but ever-evolving installation pieces. Genres are well and truly thrown out the window.
Guitars are mere paintbrushes, used to illustrate an expansive, cinematic sound, more akin to Radiohead’s Kid A than that of a typical “guitar band.” Latin flavours and jazz-like musings are splattered across the canvas rather than laid bare. Transcendentally insane, in the best possible way.
Also playing:
- PINS – All Over
- Lambrini Girls – The Basement
- Heartworms – Guess I’m Stuck in the Dark
