Guns N' Roses States. ""The Spaghetti Incident?"" (1993), an album of covers, was the band's last studio album to feature Slash and McKagan. "Chinese Democracy" (2008), Guns N' Roses' long-awaited sixth studio album, was released after more than a decade of work and several lineup changes. At an estimated $14 million in production costs, it is the most expensive rock album in history. It debuted at number three on the "Billboard" 200, but undersold industry expectations despite mostly positive critical reception. Slash and McKagan rejoined the band in 2016 for the Not in This Lifetime... Tour, which became the second-highest-grossing concert tour of
Chinese Democracy and a reference to Falun Gong. The Communist Party of China said through media that it "turns its spear point on China". "Chinese Democracy" was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 64, based on 28 reviews. "Los Angeles Times" writer Ann Powers called it "a test for contemporary ears" and "a cyborgian blend of pop expressiveness, traditional rock bravado and Brian Wilson-style beautiful weirdness". Chuck Klosterman, writing for "The A.V. Club", praised the vocals and guitar parts but criticized