Naupis

I have read about 50 variations of this from the news outlets, about 50% of those throw in a pot shot at GNR who they show at the opposite end of the spectrum suing fans while Metallica is welcoming leaks. They are certainly doing well on the PR front even if they are secretly mad about it.

Is there anyone who doesn't like this album?

I am not sure I have ever seen an album come out to such universal praise among both fans and media. It is a testament to what happens when you stop trying to recreate the wheel and actually give the fans the music they want to hear.

He PERSONALLY maybe don´t need those extra bucks, that part is true thou...

That was my point. I would bet the farm that if you offered the 4 of them no album sale money (they make so much on the road) for the entire album's life cycle, but told them the general public would be screaming to the rooftops that Metallica was 'back' with their best album in 20 years or so or a luke-warm response with a few dollars from sales they would take option A in a heart beat without thinking twice.

Do you think they (Met &co.) will release album earlier because of the leak?

Or is it too late to change the date?

Well...it´s not my money they are losing (i pre-ordered mine) but i guess leaking this early will effect pretty much their sales.

Poor millionaires...yeah i know...but still

Lars said he didn't even care, and was happy it held off this long before leaking.

I bet at this point they could give 2 shits about losing sales on this as people are focused on Metallica being 'back' with an ace album that people are fawning over.

Hearing DM has made me realise just how sad New-GNR are as a band. Incredibly poor management, fan interaction and the music is nowhere near as good as it should be for the wait.

I think that musically Axl has to be looking at the univeresal praise Metallica is receiving and wondering why in the world he decided to make the band sound like NIN part II when in 2008 ironcially enough an Appetite sounding old school GNR album would be a monster hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0M0ru2p3Lg

The Unfogriven III. It will only be up for a few hours the guy who posted it said. Kirk is totally the man.

This album is the textbook definition of how you make a throwback sounding album your fans and the rock community have been craving while still keeping things fresh and current.

The reviews I have read so far have truly been outstanding, which speaks volumes considering how perpared the media and some fans were to write this album off. They put themselves out on the limb when they built expectations sky high by talking about making an album designed to sound like those that are the Holy Grail of Metallica albums, and it appears they pulled it off.

The group around this board that love to mock what they call the "Mulletheads" who wish GNR sounded a little more like GNR sometimes should take note of the reaction this album is getting compared to Metallica's previous attempts at reinventing their sound as the current GNR incarnation has tried to do.

A modern sounding Appetite inspired album with Axl/Slash/Duff/Izzy in the vein of what Metallica tried to do would be welcomed as the second coming, as Death Magnetic shows there is a market for a modern retro rock sound like that.

feel like the music industry has become more concered with image than talent when ever you mass market stuff it only last for so long actually the general pop is more concerned with image vs talent

Or you could be how the original GNR was and combined superior talent with a bad-ass larger than life image. Not coincidentally combining both turned them into a stadium act. People are naive if they think one is mutually exclusive from the other.

I think you're missing the point here. The reason people want the new stuff is because they mainly believe that an Axl/Slash relationship is over. This is what we have, so we go with it. I don't read too many people talking about how the new stuff is better than anything on AFD, so I'm not so sure where you're coming up with that, but sitting around ripping on this current line-up with you thumb up your ass waiting for a re-union , seems pretty pointless.

My point is that Axl is every bit as bad as the VR guys in that they are selling themselves short musically on what they are capable of by surrounding themselves with inferior talent. When you have shown what you are capable of musically, and then have both off shoots of that band fail to approach the level they achieved collectively the fans are the big losers. We bicker back and forth about the VR/New GNR thing as if we should be excited one band is less mediocre than the other.

I know what we have to work with now, but my post points to those who would prefer there not be a reunion, as those are the people advocating that a mediocre version of GNR is somehow preferable to a version that produced music on an entirely different level than anything from any of the new bands.

When Izzy/Slash/Duff/Matt were writing together a couple of years ago before VR started they said the music would have been the best instrumental Guns N' Roses record to date. I think true guns fan would be willing to take anything that has Slash/Izzy combo playing on the same record over anything from the finck/bumble/fortus trio any day of the week.

The same people who would rather see Axl and the new band carry on over GNR reunion are like those few people out there that would rather see Robert Plant carry on with Allison Krause instead of touring with Zeppelin on a reunion tour next year even after seeing the fan response and demand. It is insanity.

The original guns music puts to shame anything from VR or New GNR, so I am not sure why people seem to pat each other on the back that new GNR or VR is better than the other when both of them are inferior to a line-up that has Slash/Axl/Izzy/Duff in it. So are you really just affirming that you are happy to be a fan of the band that is less mediocre, because any fan interested in seeing them truly reach their potential would want to see the line-up that is going to the hall of fame instead of various cheap imitations.

It's wouldn't take a second note of Slash's guitar playing Jungle with Axl screaming "Do you know where the Fuck you Are" over it for people to forget the new line-up ever even existed, because the level of energy and electricity in the arena that night would be able to power a small city. Thankfully that day will eventually come, and then we can put this whole nightmare behind us.

This is just another primary example of how insulated the GNR boards are from reality in the music world. There was zero buzz about this album outside of GNR fan boards, and couple that with the fact radio stations are not falling over themselves to play new material from middle aged rockers whose fame peaked 20 years ago and you have a recipe for how Bach moves 6,400 copies. Without Axl it would have been lucky to move 400. I am sure Axl is also cringing right now though because his quasi studio return didn't so much as move the needle for Bach. He may be beginning to realize he missed his window to achieve the type of success he probably wanted on his come back. Anyone who thinks things will end up drastically better for GNR compared to what VR and Bach have went through are smoking crack. Outside of being great draws on the nostalgia tour circuit, mid/late 40 something acts have little to no commercial viability in today's market. That is just how it is, and maybe this will kick Axl to shit or get of the pot before the oldies magic stations are his only platform to have his music played.

But yeah, if this song is anything like the rest ....

"Let Down" would have been a much more appropriate album title.

Not really. This album will be a call of arms for mullet-heads everywhere. Time to gas up those Camaros and throw on a tank top & fanny pack. 2006 was the year Justin Timberlake brought sexy back, and it appears 2007 is now the year that Sebastian Bach is bringing cock-rock back. Nice to see he has Axl as his accomplice in this noble cause.

It is nice to see Axl leave his cave and contribute to something people can actually hear, but Bach is seriously stuck in like 1988 or somewhere in that region. Screaming loud and thrashing metal guitar with little in between all under 3:00 minutes, nice to see Sebastian is trying to be relevant in 2007. Thank God he has Axl's name to use to sell this album because that is the only shot at relevancy he is going to have.

I dont think it really has a metal sound sound. I think that when it is finalized on the album the voice will not sound like Rob Zombie. Thats what Axl sounds like in this version of CD, and its not how he sounds live. There is a bit of that voice even in the most recent live performance, but nothing like the demo. Its a shame the 06 clips of CD came down off of youtube so quickly....

I think aside from the vocals, it is the tone of the guitars that gives it that very metal/industrial feel. Not that its a bad thing, but it certainly doesn't have that classic GNR sounding tone people associate with the band, which is why they have to be cautious in walking the line in terms of releasing a single that reflects the bands new sound but also sounds like the GNR people are expecting.

But Chinese Democracy, being probably the closest to what the original band of all songs, could possibly serve as an alert that Guns N' Roses can still do what made them famous in the first place.

CD doesn't work as a single for 2 reasons. The first is that the radio edit of the song would chop off the intro and build-up the way it will be on the album, and those are the parts that make it the coolest. The second reason is that as said earlier it may just be a little too industrial/metal sounding for a first single and could be shocking to the general public considering what the expectation of how GNR is supposed to sound. The first single should be some sort of old GNR sounding song just to ween the public onto the new sound. Shocking them up front with a totally new sound is risking the success of the entire album if it doesn't go over as well as I am sure everyone around here would like. If the other 10-12 songs are the greatest ever written it won't matter if the first single doesn't end up being a big hit, as people will write off new GNR before they are even given a second chance.

They will chop the CD intro up real bad with the radio edit were it to be a single. Without that it probably isn't the best choice.

The first single should be a classic Guns sounding rock song to slowly ween the general public onto the new sound. Axl needs to sound like Axl on the first single people hear from the band, because essentially the whole project will be judged on it. CD are not the best vocals he has ever done, given there is a Pittman noise every second word he says on the song.

The radio edit would neuter the song as they would chop the initial build off the intro and beginning riff. Couple that with a lack of chorus to suck people in and it just doesn't make for the commercial success GNR needs out of the gate.

The first single should be something we haven't heard yet (definitely a rock song) that is a little more classic Guns sounding so as not to shock the general public off the bat. It would also behoove Axl to have that song be one where he actually sounds like himself. The most common remark I have seen outside of GNR boards about the recent leaks is that Axl's vocals and all the effects he uses on them are the weak links of the songs, not the music. That has even been echoed around here. We have alot to be optomistic about, hopefully the vocals on these aren't the final ones because other than that the music sounds great.

wonder why that is?

Captive audience. This is probably the first and last time since 93 Guns will have been over there, and you are more apt to pay whatever it costs knowing it is most likely the only time they will be coming through.

This may sound stupid, but is the average Australian who may be buying tickets for this fully aware that it is down to just Axl at this point?

Any answer other than Slash is like saying you would rather have a Shelby Mustang Cobra kit car instead of the genuine article. They might both look shiney and the same on the outside, but one of them would clearly be an imposter. It is much easier to copy someone else's work than it is to create the vision from scratch.

Where are the expenses for this album really?

He has a huge payroll to meet every month. He has been paying people like Finck, Dizzy and Tommy every month for 9 years now with no way to recoup their salaries, not to mention the other band members who have filtered in and out for the past 9 years. Throw in all of the studio time and other costs, and it gets astronomical.

my only guess is they just dont want to deal with the negativity right at this moment

yeah, it will be much more convenient to deal with the negativity after they are done having their hand out asking for money when the tour is over.

It's like your boss firing you the day before you think you are getting a huge bonus. They let you work your ass off for however long thinking your going to cash in and get rid of you just before they owe you the big payout. Chances are someone who knew they were being fired wouldn't work as hard as the person who thought they were working for a huge bonus.

GNR made sure to play off everyones optimism to maximize their revenue, and will only resort to telling us the true when there is in possibility of a financial fallout. That is showing a whole lot of love for your fans no doubt

If nothing else does come of this tour, I think the thing that takes the luster off it the most in the eyes of many is that it is pretty clear these tours have been nothing more than a cash grab. They have known for a while now the album is not coming out, and I think it is kind of shady they didn't tell us when they knew to preserve ticket sales and avoid getting beat up in the media. I am sure many others like me bought tickets for the shows on the assumption the album would possibly be out by our shows given they made it clear it was coming this year. To have things end up the way they have with them taking advantage of people's optimism to line their pockets kind of leaves a sour taste in ones mouth.

have you seen them? regret going?

I don't regret going to New York for opening night Hammerstein one bit. I am not sure though I would have gone again in Cleveland like I did had someone told me in early October there would be no new material played, and the setlist would be worse than the one I saw earlier in the year. Now I can say for certain I will not go see them again until there is some sort of album out. I have seen this setlist save for a song or 2 4 times now and have about reached my fill. The novelty is definitely wearing off.

I would almost rather have the band do nothing than continue the nostalgia tour if he isn't actually serious about releasing an album. All he is doing is tarnishing his and Gnr's legacy with this album fiasco, and the longer he continues to tour without releasing something as if that is perfectly normal it just makes things worse.

do you think it will be better than the music you have heard from Chinese Democracy so far? Do you really believe that?

We are actually all the big losers in the V.R vs. New GNR debate because the simple fact is that NEITHER band has made any music so far better than the old line-up's best material. So it is kind of like trading in a Ferrari for 2 Corvettes. Doesn't mean they are both not fast cars, but they aren't going to beat a Ferrari in a race.