After fifteen years of recording and rumours, Guns N' Roses have announced that their new album is set to be released in November, 2008.

The new album will show the musical direction favoured by Axl Rose, as he is the only remaining member of the original band, after personal differences split the group following the release of the Use Your Illusion double album. Guns n' Roses were the biggest rock band in the world when they went their separate ways.

Three members of the band (Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum) formed Velvet Revolver, and have released two albums: Contraband and Libertad. Axl Rose has been busy recording and rehearsing, as well as working on a few singles.

New Guns n' Roses Album Details

The new Guns n' Roses album has had a release date announced at last. Chinese Democracy is set to be let loose to a patient public on November 23rd in the United States (US), and a day after in the United Kingdom. It will be seventeen years after the previous Guns n' Roses album featuring mostly new material. It is to be exclusively sold in the USA by the Best Buy store.

The Chinese Democracy Track Listing

The following track listing for Chinese Democracy has been released:

1. Chinese Democracy
2. Shackler's Revenge
3. Better
4. Street Of Dreams
5. If The World
6. There Was A Time
7. Catcher N' The Rye
8. Scraped
9. Riad N' The Bedouins
10. Sorry
11. I.R.S.
12. Madagascar
13. This I Love
14. Prostitute

Early Releases, Studio Leaks and You Tube Footage

Shayler's Revenge will be on the video game Rock Band 2, and will be released before the album. It is currently available to listen to on the You Tube website, along with the title track.

Both tracks have an interesting guitar sound, which is reminiscent of Van Halen, and it seems like there has been a great deal of effort made to make the sound distinctive. The above two tracks are straight ahead rockers, but Madagascar has an epic sound reminscent of Civil War.

There was controversy during the summer when a blogger, Kevin Cogill, released several tracks from the album on his website, and was subsequently arrested.

Controversy Over the Album Title and Release Date

As for the timing, well, it could be good if there’s a fair US election, as otherwise the title might seem hypocritical, or just bankrupt. With all the demos about China and Tibet before the Olympics, that might have been an ideal time to release the album. Now, with the credit crunch strangling the US, the Chinese probably aren’t that impressed with Western democracy anyway.

But maybe the release not coinciding with the Olympics shows that Axl Rose’s much publicised psychological problems and perfectionism are real, and it was not all a ploy to increase interest, sell copies, and make more money.

Further InformationThere is a website with news about the impending release of the album, and forums to interact with other GnR fans, at www.chinesedemocracy.com