A total of 15 years.

That is the amount of time that has lapsed since the last Guns N’ Roses (GN’R) studio release – The Spaghetti Incident?.

Since then, GN’R has seen their popularity wane and underwent multiple personnel overhauls (11 revisions to be exact; leaving Axl Rose the only original member remaining) while bands like Nirvana ushered in a new wave of Grunge music in the early 90’s.

It was also during this extended hiatus from the focus of the mainstream media that Axl Rose began work on his masterpiece – Chinese Democracy.

Process was slow as Axl Rose constantly swung back and forth between hiring a different producer, recording material and jam sessions in studios, and tinkering with post production intricacies.

If anything, Axl Rose certainly saw Chinese Democracy as the perfect platform for him to showcase his vision of how GN’R should sound like.

However with doubt always looming over its release and patience wearing thin, the then unreleased Chinese Democracy grew to become a running joke amongst those in the industry and press as a metaphor for drawn-out recordings that would never see the light of day.

With the album just released late last month after a 15-year wait, does the quality of the tracks justify the prolonged production time or will it been a case of “too many cooks spoil the broth”?

Kicking it off Hard rock

Like a heavy tank, this album streamrolls its way through with an unapologetic hard rock sound.

The title debut single (“Chinese Democracy“) starts off as an eerie and abstract soundscape consisting of chinese voices spliced and layered one over another. A series of pounding drumbeats and overdrive guitar riffs are then introduced before the song morphs into a full-blown hard rock tune that rains down a torrent of guitar and bass lines backed by a fast and furious drumbeat.

The subsequent track “Shackler’s Revenge” presents Axl Rose’s take on the metal/hard rock sound that was once popular in the 80’s. The song explodes right from the start, taking prisoners with its aggressive blend of fast guitars and heart thumping drums.

Interestingly, “Shackler’s Revenge” also adopts a variety of vocal sounds that includes a menancing baritone growl at the start, a high falsetto reminiscent of glam metal bands and synthesised vocals.

Shifting Gears

Things do take for a sharp and strange turn from the third track onwards.

“Better” sounds like GN’R ripped off a Third Eye Blind tune and tweaked it slightly by slapping on harder sounding guitar and drum bits.

The outcome is a pop sounding modern rock track that would probably go down well with casual listeners (it’s the second single off the album; a calculated move anyone?) but then again, “Better” does little in helping to justify the album’s 15-year wait.

The band then heads down the ballad route with “Street Of Dreams”, which left this writer cringing right from the opening.

Plagued by a clichéd piano introduction, cheesy unintelligent lyrics (“You know I tried so hard to make you/Oh, to make you change your mind”) and dated arrangement, the track winds up sounding like a poorly written Bon Jovi ballad found at the bottom of trash bin.

For the remaining bulk of the album, Axl Rose sticks largely to the formula of taking pop rock tunes and giving them a slight twist or topping up with a harder rock sound.

While these tunes are unmistakably well-crafted, tight and will have no difficulty going down as solid tracks, resorting to such a polished sound is also the album’s biggest pitfall – becoming too “clean”.

Chinese Democracy for the most parts plays it far too safe – everything sounds overtly processed and too calculated.

For a band that once stormed the world with its pioneering blend of dirty, blues-influenced hard rock, playing it so safe this time round, is simply confounding; especially for a record as long-awaited as Chinese Democracy.

Saving The Best For The Last

Of the 14 songs available on the album, the one that truly stands out is track 14 “Prostitute”.

The tune manages a fine balance between loud and soft elements to produce a 6-minute epic that artfully brings together different textures and themes. Sounding melancholic in one moment and aggressive the next, “Prostitute” is a complex masterpiece that will leave listeners in awe.

In A Nutshell

For serious listeners, Chinese Democracy would offer little in the way of providing a fresh and exciting sound that teases the senses and emotions.

The album’s overall lack of an interesting experimental edge makes it hard to achieve a sustained listening throughout the duration of the album.

Its series of songs with questionable lyrics (“I.R.S.”, “This I Love”) and predictable arrangements will also leave many to question the album’s quality and wonder if 15 years has indeed been a worthwhile wait.

The UrbanWire gives Chinese Democracy 2 out of 5 stars.

Tracklisting

01. Chinese Democracy (Sample)

02. Shackler’s Revenge (Sample)

03. Better (Sample)

04. Street Of Dreams (Sample)

05. If The World

06. There Was A Time

07. Catcher In The Rye

08. Scraped

09. Riad N’ The Bedouins

10. Sorry

11. I.R.S. (Sample)

12. Madagascar

13. This I Love (Sample)

14. Prostitute (Sample)