Singles Roundup: Guns N Roses, NMB, & Blank Era

I never found the holiday spirit when it comes to Christmas, but did I find it when it comes to new music? Let's check out a few new songs and see how generous I'm feeling.

Guns N Roses - Nothin'/Atlas

The string of songs the 'reunion' of Guns N Roses have put out continues here, fleshing out material from the "Chinese Democracy" years with extra bits of Slash's guitars. There have been rumors of the band working on an album, which is not a thought that inspires much optimism from me. One of two things is going to happen; either it will be more "Chinese Democracy" era songs that weren't good enough to make an album people already talk about as one of rock's biggest disasters, or it will be an entirely new batch of songs Axl no longer has the voice to sing.

That's what makes these songs so disappointing; they aren't GNR as they currently exist. We know these songs were written to be produced in the "Chinese Democracy" style, and adding a few Slash overdubs doesn't change the issues with the songwriting. Axl was not writing typical rock songs, and a new guitar solo doesn't make them any less self-indulgent than they already were. For as flawed as the album was, Axl at least wrote a few songs that had artistically interesting melodies interspersed in his experimentation. These songs, like the last few the band released, lack that key element.

These two songs are a good example of the psychological trauma of perfection. By spending twenty years trying to make these songs live up to an idea in his head, Axl has sentenced them to exist in a time and space between versions of GNR. New guitars sit alongside what I assume are twenty year old vocals, attempting to update songs that sound entirely behind the times. It's ironic that going back even further would feel fresh, but that might be the most amusing part of this whole thing.

If this is all GNR has left to offer, I don't think I want to hear any more of it. We've now proven there never were three albums worth of great "Chinese Democracy" songs as we were once told. We don't need to keep getting beaten down.

NMB - Fully Alive

Leave it to prog to continue coming up with ways of annoying me on a philosophical level, before ever getting to the music itself. I was pissed off when Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy used the last Transatlantic album as a vehicle to put out two completely different versions that could not be reconciled without buying both of them, and then burning your own preferred playlist. I found it offensive that 'artists' could not settle on a single vision they believed represented their work. If they had no belief in either one, why should I?

This is less annoying, but the first single for the new NMB album finds those same two once again experimenting with the limits of honesty. This song is the first advertisement for the record, but it will not appear on the album. No, this single is an amalgamation of two tracks, which is a strikingly weird thing to do. If I listen to this repeatedly and love it, I'm inevitably going to be disappointed when I don't hear it as I play the full album. Why set fans up for disappointment?

The good news is the song is not going to cause that kind of angst in me. It continues the long-running theme of Neal Morse's music no longer speaking to me. I don't know if it's the familiarity that does it, if Neal's knack for catchy melodies has been suffering, of it I'm that put off by his continued slathering of effects on the vocals. I swear, Bill's vocal section on this song is unlistenable, sounding more artificial and fake than the music I've heard sung by AI recently. It's perhaps the one thing in modern music I hate more than anything else these days, and Neal is the single biggest offender.

So am I excited for the new album? I think you know that by now.

Blank Era - Yesterdaze

A few years back, A Light Divided ended up #1 on my top songs of the year list with "Rain". They have been on a hiatus lately, which is being filled with singer Jaycee Clark's new project, Blank Era. After putting out an EP last year I did not hear about until months later (hence why I never covered it or included it on my year-end lists last year), she returns with a new single to perhaps kick off a new batch of music.

Jaycee is a unique voice, with a gritty tone that balances melody and aggression in a way few singers can match. She is the highlight of anything she is on, but Blank Era is more than that. This song is a propulsive bit of modern rock that balances electronic atmosphere with crushing guitars, all the while injecting a stirring hook that demands our attention. I would expect nothing less from Jaycee, who has a knack for doing this. Hopefully there will be more songs coming, because she and her band are a bright spot in a modern rock world that often seems colorless and faceless. She is neither, and Blank Era has a lot to offer.