Well, for those who were wondering if Chinese Democracy, the sixth studio album from Guns N Roses, would ever be released in our lifetimes, the answer is yes after 10 years of waiting. Having not released original material since the early 90’s, not touring for nearly 7 years after that, and finally not containing any original members except for Axl himself, is Chinese Democracy a relevant addition to the rock landscape? Will anyone but the ultrafans make a trip to their nearest Best Buy to pick this up? Well, I have made the effort to visit GNR’s Myspace page to listen to the audio stream of the album in its entirety to truly find out, once and for all, if Guns N Roses is worth taking up print in Rolling Stone cover articles, or if the band should finally fall into obscurity and allow it’s fans to merely harken back to a day when ripped jeans, hi tops and gyrating frontmen were the “in” thing.

After listening to the album once all the way through, I will give Axl credit for one big hurdle that so many comeback artists rarely get right–releasing material that isn’t identical to the material that made them famous to begin with. If there’s one thing that will spell an early death for a comeback is rehashing ground that is much too sacred, even for the band that created it. Axl is seemingly quite aware that the musical landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade. We have songs ranging from industrial with “Shacklers Revenge,” to smooth jazz on “If the World” to balls out hard rock with a metallic edge, clearly Axl is a fan of modern music, and isn’t living in the past.

Going beyond the variety of tracks, I must say that there are some genuinely excellent songs that, to be quite honest, I was not expecting to hear. For example, “There Was A Time” is easily one of the best GnR songs I have ever heard, and fits snugly into the band’s back catalog, all while maintaining a modern flare with a dash of electronica. Furthermore, Axl’s voice on virtually every track after the first three, is truly in top form, harnessing a much more controlled technique that reels in the scratchy, unbridled style he used on Appetite For Destruction. I find this to be very effective, especially on The Beatles-esque track “Catcher in the Rye,” an unbeat tune with an equally vibrant vocal line, and also on “The Prostitute” which is easily the best ballad to be associated with GnR. I am actually quite shocked at how well Axl sounds on this album, especially when I listen over multiple sessions.

It also must be said, that the heavy, raunchy hard rock styled antics of Appetite For Destruction are not as apparent with most of the tracks being much more low key. However, tracks like “Scraped” really bring out the fire that many old time fans having been missing. For those looking for another Appetite For Destruction, I’m sorry, but Chinese Democracy is not remotely close to GnR’s debut masterpiece, and I highly doubt Axl had any intention of doing that. Is that to say that die hard fans of AFD era GnR will be disappointed? Not necessarily. Chinese Democracy is so damn diverse, it’s really hard to pick out who would enjoy this, and who might think it’s crap, but make no illusions, Chinese Democracy stands on it’s own.

When I initially came into this experience, I had listened to “Chinese Democracy” and “Shacklers Revenge” as leaked tracks. I thought they were laughably awful songs and knew that Chinese Democracy would fail miserably, and Axl with his dreadlocks would fade into obscurity on the legends circuit. I can safely say after listening to this album in it’s entirety, my rush to an early assumption was wrong…damn wrong. The two songs I just mentioned are pretty much the only two stinkers out 14. In fact, as I type this, I am still genuinely surprised by how well this record came out. So to answer my own pessimistic question, will people go out into the freezing cold to their local Best Buy to pick up Chinese Democracy? I sincerely hope so, because 10 years will have been well worth the wait for Guns N Roses fans, I guarantee it.

MANDATORY OWNAGE

‘Chinese Democracy’
‘Shackler’s Revenge’
‘Better’
‘Street Of Dreams’
‘If The World’
‘There Was A Time’
‘Catcher N’ The Rye’
‘Scraped’
‘Riad N’ The Bedouins’
‘Sorry’
‘I.R.S.’
‘Madagascar’
‘This I Love’
‘Prostitute’

Axl Rose – lead vocals, backing vocals
Robin Finck – lead guitar, backing vocals
Ron Bumblefoot Thal – lead guitar
Richard Fortus – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Tommy Stinson – bass guitar, backing vocals
Dizzy Reed – keyboard, piano, percussion, backing vocals
Bryan Mantia – drums, percussion
Frank Ferrer – drums, percussion
Chris Pitman – synthesizer, programming

Geffen Records

http://www.myspace.com/gunsnroses

http://www.gunsnroses.com/

Reviewed by CODY