Hinder = The Grunge version of Poison.

Chinese Democracy

A once great song weighted down with needless vocals and guitar. After a few listens its not as bad as it struck me the first time.

rating: 5 Good.

Shacklers Revenge

Much better than the original that floated around. Leaner and meaner. Not my favorite but not bad.

rating: 5 Good

Better

The demo(s) was better. Hate the drum fills. Overall, its a fantastic song but not as great as it was.

rating: 7 Very Good

Street Of Dreams

Lame new title, needless guitar. This song has gone through so many changes and better variations that it baffles me as to why we ended up with this one.

rating: 5 Good

If The World

Fan-fucking-tastic. This was my least favorite of the leaks and is now my favorite. The production and added guitar was exactly what the doctor ordered. I would buy the album for this song alone.

rating: 9.5 Excellent

There Was A Time

Heart breaking. My favorite song as been completely shit on. There is just too much going on and the added cookie monster, deathmetal vocals in the chorus (eerily similar to the song St. Anger) is awful. I dont know what else to say.

rating: 2  Poor

Catcher In The Rye

Fantastic song. Love it.

rating: 8 Excellent

Scraped

Great rocker the album was desperately in need of.

rating: 7 Very Good

Rhiad

Another fantastic song. Great additions including a steller intro. I actually like the Bumble solo as well.

rating: 8 Excellent

Sorry

Very good song. Average lyrics. Could have been better, but the music is great. The highlight is the chorus and ending.

rating: 6.5 Very Good

IRS

What do you know, the exact same "sleazy" guitar that shows up on Chinese Democracy and Street Of Dreams shows up here. The song has been bogged down with more noise. One of my former favortes that's taken a fall.

rating: 4.5 Fair

Madagascar

meh....

rating: 5 Good

This I Love

This took a few listens to get into and I can say for sure that I love it. Very nice, simple broken hearted ballad. Very beautiful.

rating: 8 Excellent

Prostitute

My favorite of the album. One of the best songs Axl has ever written. The added samples in the intro go a long way. Even Bumbles guitar doesn't hurt it.

rating: 10 Classic

Overall, the album is Very Good, not great, not as great as it could have been.

Rating: 7

Over excess isn't the word I'd use... More like Gluttony. And for all this talk about the "sleazy" guitar that sounds exactly the same each time its used... Here's some advice, Axl, if you wanted real sleazy guitar... There's this guy... His name is Slash... Maybe... Give him a ring... If that's what you were looking for this entire time and felt that's what the album needed to be released. Maybe there's a sub conscious thing going on there... I don't know. I'm just as confused.

One thing is, there is no demo hangover; if I had never heard the demos I'd feel the same exact way... Actually, I'm wrong. Without the demos I would be let down on biblical porportions and I would have walked away feeling cheated for actually giving a shit about this album. The demos are this bands saving grace.

Chinese Democracy shows me that this band has been suffering a slow death since the exit of Buckethead. An exit that's had more of an impact than people think. The album has no real identity. Not like the demos had. All in all, this album is a smorgasboard... Reeking of someone who couldn't make up there mind or choose a direction... Of someone who was stuck. Chinese Democracy has flashes of sheer and breathtaking brilliance that sinks under its own weight. This almost feels like a slow suicide... leaving me with more than a touch of saddness.

Where Do You Go Now, Axl? I have to admit, as a disappointed fan, I'm still interested.

That's ridiculous.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Dave was disappointed with the album