Hell Must Have Frozen Over
November 20, 2008 1:16 pm MusicStuffI just finished listening to Chinese Democracy by Guns ‘n Roses Axl and friends. I never thought I’d actually be able to say that. And you know what? It’s pretty damned good. I’d have to say that it’s what should be considered a natural progression from where GnR was just after the Use Your Illusion albums (which I still listen to regularly, even after 17 years), with a bit of the industrial touches that Axl liked from the mid-90’s, as well as some samples and drum loops. The attitude of the musicians has definitely changed over the years - gone is Appetite for Destruction’s raw energy, but it’s been replaced with some epic arrangements and production values that reflect the fact that this thing took nearly 15 years to make.
Of course, many people will be disappointed that this is not another “Appetite”, but then I don’t know why people always expect musicians to try to recapture their past glories in their new work. Metallica’s Death Magnetic is another great example: the band’s critics wanted another Master of Puppets, but what we got in the new album is so much more than that. I’ve only recently begun listening to Metallica’s older work… To be honest, I don’t care for Kill ‘Em All that much (there’s only so far speed and aggression can take you), and I find …And Justice for All drawn out and kinda boring (well, there is some awesome buried in there), but Ride the Lightening and (especially) Master of Puppets show musical maturity beyond those guys’ ages (at the time). The new album captured some of the aggression from the older albums and infused it with the more melodic touches from their Load/Reload work, culminating in what I believe is Metallica’s most *complete* album, with a little something for all fans, showing us that Metallica still knows what they’re doing, and that they still haven’t finished growing as musicians.
In short, Rock ‘n Roll lives, and as long as albums like Chinese Democracy and Death Magnetic keep on being made, we don’t have to worry about having to get your RnR fix from the latest Nickelback.
\oo/
(that’s me throwing the horns)
Woot :
Date: November 20, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
The G’n'R album is pretty rocking. I’ve got to say I was REALLY surprised, and really happy to put it on the car and… well it fit. Some really catchy tunes on it.
As for the Metallica album, I’ll have to try again. Lyrically it wasn’t as good I didn’t find, musically it was pretty decent.
Jean-Paul :
Date: November 20, 2008 @ 5:02 pm
It’s funny, friends mock us for having gone to GnR in 2006, but we had a good time.
I haven’t really sat down to piece together the lyrics for Death Magnetic (to me, vocals are often just “another instrument”), but I do dig the lyrics in End of the Line. I found them reminiscent of some of the stuff from Justice (despite the fact that I don’t care for it musically, its lyrics have a certain grind to them), and I also found their cadence similar to the verses of Creeping Death (emphasis on first word, then a bunch of other stuff).
Woot :
Date: November 21, 2008 @ 11:14 am
I missed that show - and wasn’t happy about it either!
Wonder how close to Halifax this tour will get.
I’ll fire up the Metallica disk again and see how it goes. Probably will need to run through it quite a few times before it sinks in. Now the G’n'R cd had me on the first pass through, and I was already fighting the urge to play ‘Better’ and ‘I.R.S’ again.