by Simon Wright

Created on: November 27, 2008

The problem with reviewing this album is that it's never going to be judged as just another album. Instead, it's always going to be the album that took seventeen years to produce and that swallowed up countless millions of dollars. It is the semi mythical album that many never thought would see the light of day and lead singer Axl Rose had put himself in a position where it was going to be pretty much impossible to deliver an album that would merit the hype, the spend, the delay and which would reclaim the glory of Guns N'Roses' crowning moment of glory, their hugely successful debut album, Appetite for Destruction. As we'll see, however, he's come pretty damn close to delivering the masterpiece that was in his head.

It's worth starting by stating that this album is a million miles away from the Appetite album stylistically. Back in the early Nineties, when Axl started planning this opus, the world was a lot different and musical styles were different. Grunge rock was all the rage, led by the trailblazing Nirvana. I recall that Axl was a fan of Nirvana and tried unsuccessfully to get them to open for the Gunners. Chinese Democracy certainly isn't a grunge record but it has industrial metal edges that one presumes came from the early Nineties and lots of other tricks, besides, that must have been a conscious attempt to reinvent the band. Now, though, Kurt Cobain and grunge are dead and industrial metal failed to rule the rock world. Therefore some of the stylistic edges on this record feel a little dated and don't score the coolness kudos that maybe Axl was looking for?

Nevertheless, it is an interesting album. Axl's voice is still unique and mesmerizing and a great deal of thought (as well as time) has obviously gone into this album. It's often been said that Axl is a perfectionist and that this trait has hampered the release of this and previous records. This album has grand ambitions, which probably only added to the difficulty of pulling it together to a standard that he was happy to release. Whilst Appetite for Destruction has a raw hungry feel, Chinese Democracy has much more light and shade and stylistic complexities. I think Axl is to be lauded for the bravery shown here. It would have been easier to replicate the Appetite formula and brought out a straight-up rock n'roll album. Maybe many Guns N'Roses fans might have preferred that but the chances are that it would have been regarded still as a pale shadow in comparison to Appetite for Destruction. What

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