i love the drums beats on/and the new songs. the beats simply fit perfectly imo. it`s not about what you use, but how you use it and axl`s definitely doing a great job i think.
and @ jimmythegent and neemo: axl doesn`t need to do anything. he probably doesn`t care if he`s "the rock god" again. he does what he wants and fortunately, that`s the kind of music i really waited for, expected and of course like. the first song from the new gnr i ever heard, was "oh my god", like three or three and a half years ago and i instantely fell in love with it and couldn`t understand why some many people dislike it. i guess the main reason for that is what people liked of the old gnr and what they expected or at least wanted axl to sound like with this new album. axl mentioned all this "beats" kind of stuff in an interview in 99 or 2000 allready by the way
a friend of mine listened to oh my god by accident ( i forgot my mp3 player at his house...) and he thought it was better than anything of the previous gnr material. he also downloaded the leaks without me telling him about them and he loves them. he said that the old gnr stuff is great music and cool and stuff, but this new stuff is really mature and simply awesome. i always had the impression he didn`t like gnr until he told me about that by the way.....