The most hyped record in rock history begins with a big noise — but it's ultimately more of a whimper than a bang. The opening title-track amounting to a Pro Tools mess of guitar processing that pours out of the speakers loud and hard but never rocks, never swings, never grabs you the way, say, the entire first side of Appetite for Destruction did. Axl Rose's voice, though, remains an awesomely sadistic growl, a reminder that, yes, it has truly been missed during the past 15 years.
Chinese Democracy improves with the industrial-informed freak out "Shackler's Revenge" and again with the muscular guitar kiss-off "Better" – because no one delivers bitter quite like Axl. The same theme is explored on the power ballad "Street of Dreams" (previously leaked as "The Blues"). Keyboards, strings, face-melting guitar solos (courtesy of both Buckethead and Robin Finkck), it's Axl, the music mad man genius at his post-modern Wall of Sound best. The only bummer is when the singer dips into his lower register. I can't help but hear Forgetting Sarah Marshall's "Dracula's Lament."
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2008.