Axl Rose might not be a "people person." The singer's list of enemies runs the gamut, from the dead Kurt Cobain to the asinine Jon Bon Jovi; from his former Guns N' Roses bandmates now in Velvet Revolver, to former opening act Eagles of Death Metal — and even clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger. And the list just got substantially longer, now that Rose has successfully irritated the government of the People's Republic of China.
His latest project, "Chinese Democracy," is the first album released under the Guns N' Roses name since 1993, despite the fact that Rose is the only remaining original member of the band. As a result, the vocally acrobatic Rose has maintained creative control over the entire production with an attention to detail so keen that it borders on the obsessive-compulsive.
But forget the hype, the delays, the budget and the egos, which have monumentally overshadowed the music itself. "Chinese Democracy" is, at the very least, a sizeable album, weighing in at 14 tracks, none less than three and a half minutes long. "Democracy" opens with the album's hard-rocking title track, although not before a solid minute of distant echoes and other strange audio effects.
Rest assured, however, that the production budget wasn't wasted on experimental self-indulgence. The album chugs along with a dogged, rocking persistence that features an incredible interplay of layers and sounds. Besides the standard Guns N' Roses pounding bass, drums and guitar crunch, Rose used keyboards, synthesizers, drum loops, horn sections, overdubbed movie quotes and choirs to achieve his incredibly specific artistic vision. Some of the songs, such as "Street of Dreams" and "There Was A Time," even incorporate all of it together: the metal shredding, the blues rock feel, some piano, clean guitar and Rose's many different singing voices.
Other tracks move into more modern, at times strange territory. "Riad N' The Bedouins" transfers seamlessly from a sound-effect intro into a vaguely amelodic nu-metal hook that simply does not satisfy. The album redeems itself fairly effectively with the following track, "Sorry," a slower, darker ballad in which Rose, rather than apologizing for his often erratic behavior, defiantly tells his critics and rivals where they can shove it: "You close your eyes/ All well and good/ I'll kick your ass/ Like I said that I would." Despite the overdone bravado, the song represents a welcome musical departure from the previous upbeat tracks on "Democracy." The stylistic change to something a little slower is later revisited, to the album's benefit, on the plaintive and epic ballad "This I Love."
Despite the overdone splendor of the whole project, the most impressive talent Axl Rose possesses is still his vocal ability — the man has incredible versatility as a singer, in terms of both tone and range. Unfortunately, he also definitively fails in the producing role: The songs, often quite instrumentally challenging, feel too perfectly performed, as if they've been pushed beyond their capacity. In trying to showcase his band's talents, "Chinese Democracy" sounds as though Rose has tried to demonstrate every one of these talents on each and every track. This may not be entirely disadvantageous, as it means that every song has the potential to go in any direction at any time. But the listener may feel a bit disoriented when every song does go in every direction, every time. As paradoxical as it sounds, all that variety and instrumental perfection quickly becomes boring.
Still, "Chinese Democracy" has its gems, and enough of an original Guns N' Roses sound behind all that expensive modernization to keep old-school GNR fans happy. But with all that time, money and hype, Rose has almost unavoidably set himself up for criticism — listeners expect an unfettered masterpiece, and in this they will be disappointed.
