Chinese Democracy

When talking about the last Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy, it is hard not to criticise Axl Rose for taking so long to release the damn thing. The record was re-recorded in full multiple times, saw multiple band changes and cost a whopping $13 million to produce. It is technically the most expensive record ever produced and that is not something Axl Rose should be bragging about.However, I have to give credit where it is due. Despite taking a decade to release and the mess surrounding everything to do with its release, Axl and his pals put together an album that is actually very impressive from a technical perspective. The production and final mix is top quality avoiding compression and other nasty techniques found on modern records. Chinese Democracy quite literally sounds better than most albums that have been released since and features over an hours worth of quality music, some of which might not be to the taste of older fans but is quite enjoyable regardless.From the get go, it is clear that Chinese Democracy is not your typical Guns N' Roses album. Gone are the days of Izzy and Slash, with them goes the classic rock sounds that was all over the bands first four records. Instead we are given what was at the time, a considerably more up to date sound. The songs have these hard rock moments but are mixed up with some heavy metal riffs and produced with an industrial flair. The combination is easily the heaviest, most flavoured album of the band's career.The mix of songs styles on the record is impressive, especially considering how consistently good they are. The album title track is a satisfying start to the record and immediately proceeds through the highly enjoyable Shackler's Revenge and then into the criminally underrated song, Better. This song has a very memorable melody and devolves into some pretty heavy riffing. It is a great sounding song and is easily one of the best songs the band has produced since their debut album, Appetite For Destruction.There Was A Time starts off a little slow, it seems like a stereo typical ballad and feels like it is going nowhere. But once the song hits the half way mark, the band just explode into a selection of heavy rhythms, guitar solos and some impressively high pitch vocals from Axl Rose himself. The song that immediately follows is called, Catcher In the Rye and is a much stronger song in general. The track is consistently good, features some excellent pacing including a fiery guitar solo half way through.The band kick it back into high gear with the hard edged metal tunes, Scraped and Riad N' The Bedouins. Despite sounding nothing like the band of old, these two songs are very catchy rockers and provide the album with a much needed boost in energy, most of which dissipated with the song, Sorry. I think Sorry is one of the better songs on the record, it may be slow but the guitar riff together with metallic guitar tone just sounds excellent. The album ends on the well known Madagascar, the ballad This I Love and the song, Prostitute. The former are two good songs that hold their own in terms of the overall album quality, but the latter is just not very good at all. I enjoy listening to this record, but I do feel it is one track too long and would have ended perfectly had This I Love been the final track.Despite being a little too long over all, I will not deny that Chinese Democracy is a very good album. Some people can argue that is in fact an Axl Rose solo record, but even if Slash and co were still in the group, it would have been very unlikely that they could have produced an album of this calibre. In fact, this is a better album than anything the previous members have released since their departure.The best to enjoy Chinese Democracy is to literally forget everything that came before it. With exception of the voice, there are absolutely no similarities at all. But considering how well produced the album is, it deserves a lot of praise and I think people should definitely pick this album up, open their mind and simply enjoy the record for what it is. You'll find the album is very easy to find these days and usually it is going for only a couple of pounds. For that amount of small change, it is an absolute bargain. One that I highly recommend.Published by Steven Lornie of Demonszone

What are all you moaning reviewers looking for? I too paid only pennies for this, just to see what it was like really; and frankly I'm not at all disappointed! I've only listened to it a couple of times and because of the negative feedback was expecting it to be one of those albums you listen to, record and then ditch to the bottom of your collection; never to be heard of again. Fortunately however, I don't think this will be the case.Yes, it is different from old guns and roses..... and so it should be. If a band were to play the same stuff they were making some 20 odd years ago then they may as well give up. All good artists mature as they get older and as a result try different directions; growing in style and in experience. If they don't, more often than not all they can do is live off their old material and consequently slowly fade into obscurity.Actually, I am quite glad I erred towards the negative comments because as my expectations weren't that high I wasn't expecting too much. However, I am quite content with my purchase...thank you all the same.To all of the positive reviewers...I am with you (I should have just ignored the other dingbats)!

This is not the best G'N'R album, in fact, some would argue you can't call this a G'N'R album full stop, as it's only Axl Rose from the much-loved original line up that's present! So I find that a bit silly really when people expect 'Appetite For Destruction Mk2.' They're not the same people, they're a different band, times are different and even Axl isn't the sleazy, skint, hedonistic scumbag he was pre-1987...well he's not skint at least. But my point is, the drive they had back then, is not the same as it is now, so you can't expect the same album or sound, and honestly, why would you want the same album twice? You may as well buy 'AFD' on CD and iTunes - it wouldn't make a difference!There are some genuinely brilliant songs here, the title track, 'Shackler's Revenge,' 'Better,' are all riffy and hook-laden in equal measure. These three and 'I.R.S,' are future classics or hidden gems depending on how history and the band treats them, but since the recent reunion tours have been playing some tracks off this album, they just might sneak into the first category. There are other greats as well, and there is no doubt there is something for mostly anyone, whether it be the epicness of 'If The World' and 'There Was a Time,' to the bonkers mish mash of styles that is 'Scraped,' with a few pop-esgue mellow numbers in between.Not all songs are brilliant though, the most common problem is that a lot of them overstay their welcome and one or two are just plain terrible, but overall, the songwriting is pretty solid and you'd have a hard time imagining any other band coming up with these songs let alone Axl's unmistakable howl and rasp!The lyrics book and artwork are also one of the best and most artsy (in a good way) I can remember, featuring all the lyrics and some great shots of that incarnation of the band as well as a cool 'Chinese' motif I guess you can call it!On a side note, big kudos to the dealer, this arrived quickly and before its scheduled date, which is a nice change!

Podrían conseguir más discos ? Busco back to the egg de wings y el debut de David Bowie

Love this album! People criticize it for not being as good as their previous. But they absolutely have some tracks on here that are worthy of any error of Guns

Belíssimo produto, indispensável para a coleção de fãs. É triste que esse álbum sofra com tanto preconceito porque soa diferente do Guns N' Roses original. De fato, é completamente diferente do som do Guns de 87'-93'. Mas não é por isso que se torna ruim. Eu acho o Chinese Democracy um cd extremamente bem trabalhado, poético, instrumental, tocante e com a medida certa de rock. Alguns fãs até dizem que tem 2 ou 3 músicas boas, mas eu digo que TODAS as músicas do cd são boas, sim, até Riad N' The Bedouins. O segredo é escutar sem preconceito, como um álbum isolado, de uma banda única, porque realmente nunca houve e nunca vai haver outro álbum com os músicos dessa formação do Chinese Democracy (e que uma formação de peso!). Em que universo você esperava ouvir Buckethead e Axl Rose juntos? Robin Finck e Bumblefoot são impecáveis nas guitarras também. Sem mais delongas, o álbum é magnífico, um dos meus favoritos da vida!

Grandi

Awesome maturity from Axl, his vocals are stellar on this album, honestly maybe the best in his career. Bucket heads lead guitar is certainly different from the classic slash tone, but kept this album sounding new and fresh. Robin Finck's solo in top song "Better" is particularly notable for me, the tone and perfectness of each note causes any listener a eargasm. Other then that this album boasts great tunes like the tittle track, Chinese Democracy, Shacklers Revenge, Better, Street of dreams and Catcher in the Rye (Most notably imo).Will add that this album may be "Axls masterpiece", but its not perfect, songs like "This I Love", a song which is Axls try at a slow love song which heavily misses the mark and is way to dramatic, instant skip. Also "I.R.S" is nothing to write home about either.Final Verdict - 9/10 - Albums criminally underrated and was received badly only because of its lack of GNR's original lineup. Not a masterpiece, but close to it. Will rock to this one any day with my aviators on and my window down.