An album that's been a decade and a half in the making; a band who have made more empty promises than every Irish politician put together; a once (debatably) respectable legacy that's become tainted by ridicule with every passing year, and a 'revolving door' band member policy that almost shames Mark E. Smith's Fall. If one thing can be said in Guns N' Roses's favour, it's that they know how to make an entrance; and it'll be with extreme trepidation that most people - even the most impassioned of fans - will approach 'Chinese Democracy', the LA rockers' sixth studio album.
First things first: this is not a masterpiece by anyone's standards. It's not the future, past, or even the present of rock 'n' roll, and it certainly won't change the world. What Chinese Democracy is, however, is a surprisingly entertaining album that occasionally dips into self-parody, but is none the worse for it. Unlike the recent albums by their 'rock god' peers Metallica and AC/DC, Guns N' Roses aren't attempting to dine off past glories, either: their attempts to modernise their distinctive sound are commendable, even if not always effective - there are undoubtedly several clangers here.
Their trademark guitar-shredding riffs are copious in their volume, though, and most enjoyable when wrapped around crunchy, grimy basslines (Shackler's Revenge), blasts of spacious, punky, Jane's Addiction-style rock (Riad N' the Bedouins) and Axl Rose's shrill squeal, which is as potent and forceful as ever (not least on the ostentatious whirlwind Scraped). Those methods have been already been tried and tested, though. What may (un)pleasantly surprise you most are the more melodic tunes - which slide from the pedestrian, piano-based end of the spectrum (Street of Dreams, There Was A Time) to soft-rock tunes with a subtle hint of modern emo and noughties rock (IRS, Better).
It'd be easy for fans and critics alike to get carried away, and misjudge 'Chinese Democracy' solely through sheer relief that it's not completely awful. And yes, it may seem like that fence somewhere in the middle-ground is particularly comfortable, don't be swept away by the vox populi: this is merely a satisfactory album by a band that truthfully, has not been relevant since the 1980s. But really, did you expect anything more?
