Guns N' Roses Strikes Back
NEIRAD enilno edition
Guns N’ Roses has a lot of history in the music world. From hearing “Welcome to the Jungle” at a Rangers game or listening to “Sweet Child O’ Mine” on the radio for the millionth time, Guns N’ Roses has always delivered those piercing chords and wailing vocals. They were the typical badass hair band of the late 80’s and early 90’s and partied like champions. Their debut album “Appetite for Destruction” released 1987 sold 28 million copies world wide. In other words…they were kind of a big deal.
When the band finally broke up 17 years ago people were heartbroken…Lead singer Axl was blamed by the rest of the band because of his obnoxious personality. Guns N’ Roses history has always been rocky and eventful, especially when Dave Grohl started bashing Axl at the 92 VMA’s after Curt Kobain destroyed the stage (yes I’m biased toward Nirvana).
Guns N’ Roses was famous for Axl’s screechy voice and Slash’s guitar playing, and fans have missed them sorely. Luckily for many of their fans, Guns N’ Roses has returned after 17 long years. This time around the band has a new lineup for Chinese Democracy. Axl is still the front man, the rest of the band members are still in Velvet Revolver with Scott Weiland singing for them, despite Scott’s newest solo album “Happy In Galoshes.” Axl has been going through some rough years since Guns N’ Roses with his weight gains and arrest for biting a security guard in Stockholm in 06, yes biting with his teeth. Axl is still Axl though, after all of these years he can still hit the notes with screeching ferocity and his new band is there to support him in his recent debut.
The rest of the band consists of many faces and many contributors including Buckethead, Robin Finck and Ron Thal all on lead guitar (yes three on lead), and then Paul Tobias and Richard Fortus on rhythm guitar. The five guitar attack is backed by an extensive rhythm section including Tommy Stinson on bass and Bryan Mantia on drums. Dizzy Reed is also playing keyboards for the album and is the only member besides Axl who worked on a previous Guns N’ Roses album (Use Your Illusion era.) The list of contributors is massive and 14 studios were used to create this Frankenstein of an album.
Frankenstein had some redeeming qualities and so does Chinese Democracy. Axl’s voice is still was it was, he somehow managed to make the five guitar attack work on songs like “Chinese Democracy” to suffice for the lack of Slash and Izzy, and the album is definitely badass sounding whether you like it or not. The album purveys the message of non-restraint and uncaring for rules just as the old Guns N’ Roses used to do. This is shown in the song “Better” with lyrics like “No one ever told me when I was alone; they just thought I'd know better, better.”
The bad side of the album is the over produced sound; the music is not natural sounding whatsoever. Axl went through 14 different studios to finish the album over the last 13 years and the album reflects that. Another thing that annoys me is the use orchestra music. It worked in the past with “November Rain” but the orchestra music doesn’t sound good with Axl’s ballads, infact they’re kind of girly. This beauty and girlyness comes out in “This I Love” when Axl is crying/singing the lyrics of “I won’t ask of you what I would not do. Ooooh I saw the damage in you, My fortunate one, the ending of you” All in all I would and would not recommend this album. It has historical value because Guns N’ Roses is back and still sounds good, but it also sucks because of overproduction and Guns N’ Roses being back.
