The wait is over

Chinese Democracy by Guns N8217; Roses brings back a passionate weirdness to hard-rock airwaves

Chinese Democracy by Guns N8217; Roses brings back a passionate weirdness to hard-rock airwaves
No pop star has built a fortress as maze-filled and ironclad as one W. Axl Rose. Not Michael Jackson, whose retreat was forced by scandal as much as by artistic crisis and who seems ever more weakened by his reputation8217;s slide. Not Zack de la Rocha, who like Rose went down countless collaborative roads before revamping the Rage Against the Machine template with his new project. Not Garth Brooks, who also turned hermit but craved the crowds too much to stay inside.

Rose, the most ambitious hard rocker of the late 20th century, essentially quarantined the Guns N8217; Roses brand for 15 years, unable, perhaps, to reconcile the sounds in his head with what is humanly possible. Chinese Democracy, the title track from the album finally coming out later this month, hits like an offering pushed through a crack in a locked gate, hinting that those sounds, never completely apprehended, have now coalesced into something Rose can face.

The sound is murky, ugly and evocative of a dark cityscape; you could call it Blade Runner rock because like that 1982 film, it8217;s a very dirty vision of the future.
Siren-like effects kick off the track, and then a slicing guitar riff courtesy of Robin Finck or Buckethead8212;the credits should be clarified whenever Rose deigns to do so punctuated by squiggling, pedal-heavy licks, sets up Rose8217;s multiple-tracked vocal.

8220;It don8217;t really matter,8221; he sings. 8220;You8217;ll find out for yourself.8221; As the cryptic verses unfold, it becomes clear that this is one of Rose8217;s songs from inside the cage of fame, attacking external forces he despises but can8217;t ignore or repel. Like Get in the Ring or You Could Be Mine, this is Rose as the nastiest kind of punk.
On one level, it8217;s a protest song about Chinese state oppression. More important, it8217;s a spit back at the audience that8217;s been waiting for what has to be a masterpiece, if Rose is to survive artistically.

The song builds like bile. It doesn8217;t behave the way radio-friendly singles usually do. The chorus is just an extension of the verses, rising a little in pitch and compression. There isn8217;t really a proper hook; the sweet release that Slash8217;s solos always brought to the mix never comes. But the refrain sticks after several listens.

8220;It would take a lot more 8230;8221; is the key phrase, the one that Rose sings in still-powerful midrange. These are the points when the song sounds the most like Nine Inch Nails8212;a shot of aggression that somehow contains its own alienated retreat.

Chinese Democracy also recalls I8217;m Afraid of Americans, David Bowie8217;s 1997 foray with NIN. Both songs have a suffocated quality, as if their makers are pushing through smoke to express these thoughts. It8217;s the sound of florid, romantic rockers aiming for something cold and modern.

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But Rose can never really be cold. He8217;s a Heat Miser8212;whatever he touches starts to melt in his clutch. That8217;s why these paranoid rockers never quite satisfy the way his grandiose ballads can. As real as Rose8217;s anger may be, in song it starts to feel overly put on, in need of a sweeping chorus or Slash-like ringing solo to relieve the tension of the pose.

Still, for all the pooh-poohing this song will earn because it8217;s just been too long in coming to fulfill all hopes, Chinese Democracy brings back a passionate weirdness that the hard-rock airwaves have lacked. However overwrought or undercooked the whole album might be, it8217;s good to have this mad king venturing forth over his moat.
_Ann Powers, latwp