The first two tracks are just too modern for me, the tone completely jarring and ragged. It's almost as if Axl is daring everyone to stop listening after this. Because after they're done, the music slides neatly into the new style. We get some nice ballads, some sweeping orchestra songs, and just some great chugging fury. The record has turned out exactly like the songs they played live - the sound is very different, though it does recognizably pick up from where Use Your Illusions left off, but it's still Guns N' Roses. Or, to put it more bluntly - it's still Axl Rose.
Yes, I miss Slash, though he wouldn't have quite fit in on this album. But the amazing licks he played on Don't Cry were just channeling what Axl's song made him feel, hence his solo material and Velvet Revolver not living up to the same standard. Yes, I do miss Izzy's wistful writing style, but after 14 years, Axl has accrued more than enough maturity to fill any holes that Izzy left in the writing. I also miss Duff's pummeling presence, though he'd probably be buried under the mountains of guitar and synth on this album, so his absence isn't really felt.
The point is, Use Your Illusions were straining the limits of the 5-man band, and Chinese Democracy is completely outside of them. Everything is triple-tracked, and the mix is very thick, but very well-done, and only occasionally do certain parts fall victim to excessive compression or poor balancing. It sounds more like old GN'R than one would think, while still managing to have utterly insane song structure. If the World has a funk-jazz-James Bond title song-dance beat-metal-flamenco sound to it. There are literally 6 genres fighting for supremacy, and the balance shifts back and forth from section to section.
If this is what rock n' roll is today, then I'm not sure what rock n' roll sounds like anymore. But it feels like rock n' roll. It's excessive for the sake of being excessive. It's self-indulgent, it's layered, it says what it wants, how it wants, and doesn't care for being shoehorned into any labels, or forced to play in any style. It logically shouldn't work at all, but it does, and it excels. As far as this sad decade for music goes, this is probably the best record of the last 8 years. And if you need further convincing, just look up the songs Street of Dreams or Catcher in the Rye on youtube. But you won't probably won't agree, and Axl doesn't care if you don't agree. And that's why it's still the same music. Because he's been misunderstood, criticized, demonized, wrongfully accused and exiled. But now he's been vindicated.
