It just doesn't sound like GNR to me. His voice sounds shot on half of the tracks... it doesn't have the bluesy sound that they used to have... the energy is really low, the songs are boring to me. It comes off as weak and uninspired to me and I'm really surprised that so many of you guys like it and that the review Matt posted was so complimentary.
That's just it - and the reason why Slash and Axl are not together.
If you want the bluesy-rock album, the go get Slash's Snakepit's "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere". Slash doesn't claim it was the next GNR album, but Axl does. Matt, Gilby and Slash wrote those songs together, without Axl or Duff (b/c they didn't want to go in that direction at the time). For as great as Slash is, and I'm a huge fan of his, his sound has always remained the same. Duff later came around to play on VR, which is toned version of what GNR used to play and an extension of Snakepit. I liked it, but never thought it was anything GNR would release had they stayed together. Axl had to replace all of them to continue what he wanted to do, and then members left for various reasons (Tobias, Buckethead, Freese).
I would also love another AfD album, but there are people who are saying this album sounds dated. Metallica's recent album was fantastic, IMO, but there are still a large portion out there that says they are "trying to sound hard". You can't please everyone I guess.
The majority of the reviews (Rolling Stone, Spin, etc) have been complimentary. All comment on the time it took to make the album, and the number of power ballads. It's an extension of the Illusion albums while also being something different and new. Axl told Rolling Stone in 2006 that it would have some songs everyone would like.