GUNS N' ROSES — Use Your Illusion II (review)

GUNS N' ROSES — Use Your Illusion II album cover Album · 1991 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
Time Signature
Estranged...

Genre: hard rock / power ballads

"Use Your Illusion II" is the second part of the double-disc album that served as the long awaited follow-up to "Appetetite for Destruction". I remember feeling even more ambiguous about "Use Your Illusion" when it came out than I did about the predecessor. There are a lot of good tracks on "Use Your Illusion", but also a lot of really uninspired pompous ballads and pointless fillers. Axl's vocals are annoying as ever, but thankfully Izzy and Duff take up vocal duties on a couple of songs, and there are also guest performances by other vocalists, such as Alice Cooper himself.

Now to "Use Your Illusion II".

The opening track "Civil War", which is a kind of power ballad, very much sets the tone: this second part of "Use Your Illusion" is going to be softer than the first part. "Civil War" is actually not bad, and I've always liked it. "14 Years", while a bit more uptempo, carries on in the same vain, as do "Yesteryears" (not as good as "Civil War" and "14 Years", though) and the subpar cover version of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". A couple of hard rockers follow these "softies". Firstly, there is "Get in the Ring", which, musically is quite good, but lyrically it's basically just a childish tantrum thrown at the music press. Secondly, there's "Shotgun Blues" which is a dirty, almost punky, hard rocker, which I've always enjoyed listening to. The same cannot be said about the ghastly cheese-rocker "Breakdown". "Pretty Tied Up" and "Locomotive" are much better and count as some the highlights of this album. They're followed by the melancholic and slightly cheesy ballad "So Fine".

What's next?

The terrible and super cheesy "Estranged", which is, if possible, even worse and pompous than "November Rain" from "Use Your Illusion I". Guns 'n' Roses make use of all the heavy artillery and ammunition of successful power ballads here, and miss the target completely. Eech!

Thank heaven for "You Could Be Mine", which is the last highlight of the album before it descends into another version of "Don't Cry" and a complete timewasting "My Worlds".

This album will probably appeal to fans of hard rock and glam and pop metal. And, it does have its moments, but enjoying these really requires one to ignore Axl's wailing and his stupid lyrics (granted, the lyrical content on this release seems a bit more mature than on "Use Your Illusion I" and "Appetite for Destruction").
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