THE AXL AURA

So, the Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy has been pushed back once again.

A March 6 release date was announced late last year, but that was squashed Thursday (Feb. 22) via a post on the band's official site stating "there is no official release date."

For the fans who still care about GNR and remain curious about Chinese Democracy, which has been more than 10 years in the making, there is good news: According to the post, recording is finished and the album is in the mixing stage.

It's anyone's guess how long that will take.

Moody and unpredictable leader Axl Rose (above) is the only original member left in the band, and there's no doubt that he's the reason for Democracy's holdups. That has to be frustrating for everyone involved with the project, especially the current members of the band.

But leaving GNR doesn't necessarily shed one of the Axl-esque delays or long gaps between output. Ex-GNR guitarist Izzy Stradlin released his first solo album in 1992. His next one arrived in 1998. By Axl standards, that would appear to be a rush job. Anyway, Stradlin has been much more prolific since '98, and according to AllMusic.com, he has five full-length studio efforts to his credit -- one more than GNR.

Then there's Velvet Revolver, featuring former GNR members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. The band's debut album, 2004's Contraband, was delayed a few times, and it would be fair to say that VR front man Scott Weiland's personal troubles were the reasons for the album's release being pushed back.

But maybe the GNR guys had yet to shed their previous singer's bad vibes. The Axl aura is a powerful thing, and nobody knows it better than his current bandmates.