USA Today - review of the Illusion albums before they were released

USA Today - September 1991
This was printed the weekend before the albums were released.

Guns N' Roses let loose a double-barreled blast of rock

Long on attitude, short on subtletly, Guns N' Roses' two resplendent new albums--due Tuesday--restore a razor edge to rcok n' roll.

Though sold seperately, they essentially constitute a double album that can be purchased in two installments. Bet you can't buy just one. Use Your Illusion I (****) barely betters Use Your Illusion II (***1/2); both serve up the kind of rebellious, ambitious and powerful rock that once made the genre dangerous and thrilling.

Each album immediately establishes an urgent momentum that never flags. Even sweeping ballads, like the new single Don't Cry (on both LPs in alternate versions) brim with tension and passion.

Of course, Illusion's primary ingredient is attitude--by the boxcar. And its chief purveyor is Axl Rose, whose feral growl and throat-ripping screech never sounded better--or scarier. "I'm wired on indignation," Axl Rose seethes on the vengeful Shotgun Blues. In the barreling Right Next Door to Hell, the singer lashes out with the fury of a wounded wildcat. And his ferocious diatribe in Back Off Bitch won't score any points with feminists, despite it's poitendly comic ending.

Humor also alleviates the acrimony of Get in the Ring, a hard-rocking, venemous harangue against eney rock critics (identified by name) it would be repugnant if it weren't so hilariously juvenile.

GN'R's players provide the perfect vehicle for such unapologetic wrath. Slash's guitar solos--from the blistering runs in Perfect Crime to the majestic soar of Don't Damn Me -- are technically and emotionally mesmerizing. Bassist Duff McKagan plays with rib cage-rattling force and steps out of character to sing his T-Rex/Iggy Pop inspired composition, So Fine. Guitarist Izzy Stradlin, GNR's low-profile personality, is Illusion's heavy lifter, he co-wrote most songs, including the hit You Could Be Mine, and penned such pugnacious gems as the sitar flavored Pretty Tied Up, an ode to kinky sex, and the loose-limbed country blues, You Ain't the First ("but you been the worst"). New drummer Matt Sorum is a solid, instantly indespensable anchor, and new keyboardist Dizzy Reed adds crucial flourishes throughout.

The band is at peak form in such wild punk riots as Garden of Eden and a runaway Locomotive. Even unremarkable rock workouts like Bad Apples, Dead Horse, and Yesterday eclipse the tired routines that pass as today's Top 40 hits. But Illusion is no aimless power-chord typhoon. GN'R's massive sound takes on new complexities and risks. The Garden dabbles in psychedelia. My World is a demented metal rap. Double Talkin' Jive's jackhammer beat segues into a classical guitar coda.

Though the prevailing mood is dark anger, GNR displays a breathtaking range of emotions, none synthetic. Romantic sentiments never turn treacly. Lapses into cliches are redeemed by earnest honesty.

In Estranged, Rose musters courage facing the end of a relationship , until anguish spills in the parting line: "I never wanted it to die." Vulnerability also colors November Rain, a touching, gorgeous epic.

The most involving composition, Coma, is a disturbing life-and-death odyssey of suicidal impulses and emergency-room drama, heightened by eerie special effects and abruptly shifting tempos.

With GNR's grand Illusions, rock n' roll seems real again.