After 14 years, it’s finally here. Ladies and gentlemen, Axl Rose and no other members of the original Guns N’ Roses welcome you to Chinese Democracy.


From the opening guitar riff of the title track, to the closing, ironically-named ballad “Prostitute,” Axl screams in your ear. But his screaming is not that of Appetite for Destruction, it’s that of Roseanne Barr belting out the national anthem. It seems that Axl’s voice has taken a noticeable hit over the last decade and a half.  However, this motley crew of musicians he’s assembled play great behind the screeching of their lead ‘singer.’ If it took so long for Axl to assemble his masterpiece, then where are songs like “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Paradise City?” Where are tracks that stand out from the rest? The question will remain unanswered, because each track on Democracy blends together with the next. The only thing this failure of a masterpiece has going for it is the creatively designed album booklet and the previously mentioned sound of each song. Axl, why don’t you sit the next 14 years out? Again.