BreakDown2014

A little summary I made of what we expected vs what we got: - The orchestral intro: It seems like the orchestral intro is a blend from Beltrami's work on both songs, since they share a similar motif. Most of it is from The General, though. It also isn't an intro like some people expected, but an orchestral arrangement that can be heard throughout the song. - The cellphone clip: unfortunately I only have on my computer a brief extract of the cellphone recording, but it's 100% Monsters. Would be cool to know if both songs were played back to back on the Viena party. - Instrumental: The General isn't an instrumental track like some speculated. - They're both reworked songs with Slash and Duff: Both songs definitely have Slash and Duff all over it it. Maybe we will never know if there's any guitar work from Robin, Paul or Bucket left on the final versions (like Robin's famous bend on Perhaps). - Evader's version: IMO he was damn close on the screaming Axl vocals part. The rest of his version suffered from the confusion of thinking the cellphone clip was The General instead of Monsters but was a very cool guess. One of my first reactions after hearing both songs was "Evader got pretty damn close". - ¿Is it an "epic" like we expected from Slash's comments?: This is obviously very subjective but if you take both songs as a whole it definitely fits my definition of "epic". - Child abuse lyrics on The General: Yes. - Bach's comments on The General: The chorus has the slow grinding riff with high piercing vocals but it's impossible to understand how this could be a sequel to Estranged. - Soul Monster's bridge: The vocals definitely fit the description Axl gave on the 2008 chats. - ¿A reworked State of Grace?: IMO Monsters and State of Grace share a similar vibe but are definitely not the same song. This means State of Grace could still be released someday and make a great trilogy along with The General and Monsters (eventhough it will probably never get an official release). - Mysterious soundcheck: the BPM from Frank's beat don's seem to match Monster nor The General my conclusion is that they were definitely not playing any of these 2 songs.

The General's outro gets better everytime I listen to it. The way Axl's high notes blend with Slash's playing is one of the greatest and heaviest GN'R moments

I love how close Evader got to Monsters' bridge. He must be he thrilled with these songs!

Vocals have a similar treatment than the Perhaps vocals. Same clipping issues, hope they get it solved on the final release

There's a sudden change of tone during Monster's outro guitar solo in 4:03. To my ears it sounds like Richard takes over the solo from that moment on

+1. That's some beautiful work by Slash. Hope we get to hear it live even if Axl sings the high parts an octave lower

Indeed! Hope we get some kind of confirmation someday that Monsters is indeed Soul Monster

Slash's guitar work is superb. So good I didn't even feel like I need to hear the Finck/Buckethead solo. UYI vibes

My exact thoughts! As just one song it's great. Maybe they're going to release Monsters as a single and The General and Monsters will be like an extended version only on vinyl or whatever

Atlas Shrugged Absurd Perhaps Going Down Oh my God State of Grace Hardskool The General Monsters Eye on you (Bonus Track) The new CD II album I'll be playing on repeat all weekend. Thanks GN'R (and fuck you Fernando)

I think they're to be treated as just one song, The General and Monsters. To listen so fresh and new is aMAZING

omg this is so close to evader's version XDDD

WOWWWWWWWWWWW

WHO WOULD DO THIS... TO ME

You pretty much put into words my exact thoughts on this matter, would be incredible to hear that guitar riff on The General

Axl playing guitar on 'Maddy"live in Rio 2001, He wrote all the gtr parts, including lead gtr. I recorded him playing lots of awesome guitar parts back then, I don't think people know what an original and cool guitar player he really is,....those were fun times" Quote from Chris Pitman. Cheers!

Now I'm 100% positive too. Thanks!

There's some very amateur sounding lead guitar stuff on the Rough MIxes CD #1 versions of TWAT and Madagascar... ¿Has anyone else though about who could it be? My guess is either Paul Tobias or Axl himself, since Axl even played some pieces of Madagascar in RIR 2001 and is listed with "Guitar" credits on the CD booklet too for both of those songs.

Lol

Haha. I guess the question is if The General's coming out the 27th on streaming platforms.

Listening to Evader's version is always a great way to build up expectations... It's hard to believe we're only 12 days away (probably) from listening to The General

The word "General" sounds very close to GN'R. The General is the ultimate GN'R song...

I'm 100% with you on this. I actually said the same thing on another thread and some people insist that it's just Axl's choice to sing in falsetto in those parts and he could perfectly sing those parts with his chest voice. On the first few live performances of Perhaps he tried attempting some of the hey heys and lines with his chest voice and he failed several times, leading to the typical cracks in his voice. I'm glad he finally found the way to sing it properly even if it means using falsetto.

Would be a great "Eye on You" single cover art....

I don't think the mickey on the verses is "unnecesary". He tried doing it with his chest voice and failed several times, there's no need to keep pushing it if his voice won't let him ...