User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 427 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 52 out of 427

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  1. DaveC.
    Dec 1, 2008
    2
    17-years for this, come on! Its sad that Axl's owns the G'N'R name, Chinese Democracy sounds like a Korn album or some other corporate rock-metal album from the 1990s. This album would have sounded out of date if it was release a decade ago. I agree that Appetite for Destruction is one of the greatest of the rock albums of the all-time, but after that other than a few songs 17-years for this, come on! Its sad that Axl's owns the G'N'R name, Chinese Democracy sounds like a Korn album or some other corporate rock-metal album from the 1990s. This album would have sounded out of date if it was release a decade ago. I agree that Appetite for Destruction is one of the greatest of the rock albums of the all-time, but after that other than a few songs off of Illusions, what makes G'N'R so great? Don't make me bring up The Spaghetti Incident? Expand
  2. SlyE.
    Dec 23, 2008
    0
    So bad I actually thought it was a novelty record. Perhaps 15 more years of production might have saved it, perhaps they should have just retired, either way, I'd rather not have it raping my ears any longer.
  3. keefR
    Nov 25, 2008
    0
    This is cookie cutter music. All songs sound like something else vaguely. The problem is that the songs they sound something like lost their relevance 20 years ago and now are just nostalgic memories. If this had come out instead of Appetite of Destruction it would have been wonderful and amazing, but instead it just sounds like retreads. Hopefully it will financially be the equivalent of This is cookie cutter music. All songs sound like something else vaguely. The problem is that the songs they sound something like lost their relevance 20 years ago and now are just nostalgic memories. If this had come out instead of Appetite of Destruction it would have been wonderful and amazing, but instead it just sounds like retreads. Hopefully it will financially be the equivalent of Ishtar if it isn't musically the equivalent and the CD's themselves will make better clocks or rear-view mirror decorations. Expand
  4. RimshotG.
    Nov 29, 2008
    0
    Doesn't kick ass at all as rock'n'roll should. Overdeveloped, soulless and boring.
  5. WowB.
    Nov 24, 2008
    2
    2 marks for getting it out, but that's all. this isn't progressive, edgy or anything else - it's simply the pretensions of someone who barely managed to make some decent songs in the 90s thanks to coppin riffs and style from johnny thundres et al. methinks nostalgia is clouding some people's vision here - this is utter trite, over produced, souless pap from someone who 2 marks for getting it out, but that's all. this isn't progressive, edgy or anything else - it's simply the pretensions of someone who barely managed to make some decent songs in the 90s thanks to coppin riffs and style from johnny thundres et al. methinks nostalgia is clouding some people's vision here - this is utter trite, over produced, souless pap from someone who perhaps should have stayed hidden - at least then we'd have the hope that he may defy expectations. avoid at all costs. Expand
  6. TarquinO.
    Nov 24, 2008
    1
    Much worse than I was expecting - horrible production, silly guitar solos that feel totally out of context and daft lyrics. Give Slash a call Axl.
  7. JM.
    Nov 23, 2008
    2
    Streamed this steaming piece of overdue dogshit on Myspace. Couldn't make it past 5 or 6 tracks before I started to feel nauseous. Thanks for nothing Axl.
  8. Patrick
    Nov 27, 2008
    3
    The whole thing sounds like a grotesque rock-opera parody
  9. SamJ
    Feb 22, 2009
    3
    There's only 2 songs on it which didn't make me consider breaking the radio, and they weren't all that good.
  10. LindsayJ
    Apr 11, 2009
    0
    I hated every song on this album. I was looking forward to its release, and was thoroughly disappointed.
  11. Mar 27, 2011
    0
    The Good: It's a Guns N Roses album that wasn't recorded in the 80s or 90s.
    The Bad: It's a Guns N Roses album that wasn't recorded in the 80s or 90s...
    The Ugly: The only member of the original band left is Axl. Slash's presence is sorely missed on Chinese Democracy. It's a bland album, uninspired, and sounds almost like a cover band for GNR that made a half-assed attempt to record their
    The Good: It's a Guns N Roses album that wasn't recorded in the 80s or 90s.
    The Bad: It's a Guns N Roses album that wasn't recorded in the 80s or 90s...
    The Ugly: The only member of the original band left is Axl. Slash's presence is sorely missed on Chinese Democracy. It's a bland album, uninspired, and sounds almost like a cover band for GNR that made a half-assed attempt to record their own original music. There will be no classics remembered from Chinese Democracy. It's a throw away album. If you buy it, it will probably get lost on purpose or be thrown away. Its 90% garbage. And I'm not biased by old GNR albums either, Nine Inch Nails is a band that keeps re-inventing itself a little bit every album and in my opinion one of very few rock bands to come out of the 80s and succeed through the 90s and 00s, still going strong into 2011. Axl could take a lesson or two from Trent Reznor, don't make fans wait for hours to see rock shows and don't spend a decade crafting such a terrible, terrible album, blaming everyone else along the way for the fifteen year delay, filing suit after suit over honestly fairly petty crap. Axl needs to grow up, call up Slash, bring back the old band, do the reunion tour, and then MAYBE record new material, or just let the GNR name die a less painful death and just go away.
    Expand
  12. Jun 30, 2012
    0
    Very over rated, it had its moments. But I think at best it has a couple good songs. The reason my vote it so low, because when you take 15 yrs to make an album, better be one of the best damn albums ever, and this is barely average
  13. Nov 9, 2013
    0
    One of the worst perfomances in rock'n'roll scene since the Guns n Roses appeared the first time. Guitars sound like the last breath of a broken radio many layers mixed together end as bad as would be expected. Axl Rose use to be the worst part of band. Buy something better. If you want to hear some great rock legends, buy AC/DC or Nirvana. Chinese Democracy is a pale ghost ofOne of the worst perfomances in rock'n'roll scene since the Guns n Roses appeared the first time. Guitars sound like the last breath of a broken radio many layers mixed together end as bad as would be expected. Axl Rose use to be the worst part of band. Buy something better. If you want to hear some great rock legends, buy AC/DC or Nirvana. Chinese Democracy is a pale ghost of repetitiveness made by people without new ideas. It's better to burn out than to fade away. Expand
  14. JoeP.
    Nov 24, 2008
    1
    It is crap. Guns and Roses has done godd stuff in the past, but this is awful. I think any good reviews are people just wanting it to be good. If it wasn't under the name Guns and Roses, nobody could listen past the first song.
Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 28
  2. Negative: 2 out of 28
  1. The first Guns n' Roses album of new, original songs since the first Bush administration is a great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard-rock record.
  2. 70
    An outrageously overblown pop-metal extravaganza, Chinese Democracy feels like a perfect epitaph for all the absurdity and nonsense of the George W. Bush era--one final blowout before Principal Obama takes our idiocy away.
  3. 40
    Soundwise, Chinese Democracy is all over the place.