Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 02/07/07
Label: RCA

It's 20 years since Guns N' Roses released "Appetite For Destruction" and put the sex and drugs back into rock'n'roll. But don't expect Slash, Duff McKagen and Matt Sorum to get all misty-eyed and sentimental. With the release of their second Velvet Revolver album, the chances of a reunion look as likely as Axl finishing "Chinese Democracy". Not only do they have 3.5 million sales of 2004's debut "Contraband" to build on, in "Libertad" they've found both themselves and the most complete stadium record in two decades.

If "Contraband" sounded like an angrier version of Guns N' Roses, with the bloke from Stone Temple Pilots wailing like a desperate crack addict doing cold turkey, "Libertad" sounds very much like Velvet Revolver. It's a coming of age and a coming together album. This time, with singer Scott Weiland off the drugs and out of rehab, it's a group effort and it sounds it.

It's also a more rounded collection. Where "Contraband" was a clenched fist of a statement, a furiously angry head-down charge, desperate to prove its worth, "Libertad" is the triumphal return. It's the sound of resurrected icons refamiliarising themselves with all the other elements of their stadium-pleasing arsenal. So while the likes of "Let It Roll", "Get Out The Door" and "Mary Mary" still barrel to shredding riffs and sleaze, they're made heroic by striding hooks, built to have a crowd jumping as one. And every track's got one.

For sure it's as rammed with clichés as it is soaring anthems, but they're put to masterly effect. Take lead single, "She Builds Quick Machines", swinging as it does from pile-driving to slow-motion grandeur and back - it's predictable yes, but the absolute conviction makes every foot-on-the-monitor moment exhilarating. Similarly, sway-along showstopper, "The Last Fight", sounds at once like a million other guitar solo drenched, piano thudding, "Hey Jude"-ish songs, but also the best rock ballad ever.

It's also the key to why "Libertad" wins over its predecessor and most rock albums since "Appetite For Destruction". Along with the sweet and tender "Gravedancer" and the "November Rain"-esque "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" it's the sensitive, melodic balance to all the fantastically bitter snarling. Loaded to the hilt with raw aggression, "Contraband" was possibly a more exciting record, but "Libertad is a more memorable one. And with filth, loose morals, anger, frustration, big guitars and even bigger choruses at every turn, it's got all the DNA of a pure-bred rock classic.

    by Dan Gennoe