A musical monster in every sense, this ginormous ripsnorter of a pop metal melodrama cost Axl Rose many millions of dollars, and is worth every cent for his rock follies.

Slash and Izzy Stradlin are long gone, the gap filled by an endless procession of frenetic fret melters. The bass riff seems to be losing a game of musical Twister, desperately trying to anchor the guitar pyrotechnics on 'Rhiad And The Bedouins', which is every bit as wonderfully preposterous as the title suggests.

If you are looking for the thrill of a song surviving in the face of ludicrous excess try 'Shackler's Revenge', cascading melodies flowing over metal thrash madness brought to life in a studio laboratory. Rose's sandpaper castrato is as shockingly thrilling as ever, perhaps more effective when the throttle is slightly reined back, his voice more expansive and expressive on 'There Was A Time' and 'If The World'.

Strings flourish anywhere not power blasted by industrial rock, and little oriental flourishes adorn every mix, but never more effectively than the title track. With a resonant hollow riff distantly related to Joe Walsh's 'Rocky Mountain Way', superfluous chattering Chinese voices give way to a slashing guitar powering through the crowd in one of the most exhilarating rock intros in recent memory. Far from flawless, but riding the dragon clearly agrees with Axl Rose much more than chasing it.

Download this: Chinese Democracy, Better