It's Christmas 1986, and he's "crouched naked under a Christmas tree with a needle in [his] arm." The voiceover technique works here, but by the end of the CD, listeners tire of its repeated use.

"Van Nuys" and "Life is Beautiful" are the record's best and most intense tracks, and if there's any reason to buy this record, they're it. The latter track in particular features a great chorus with pounding drums: "Open your eyes / And see that life is beautiful / Will you swear on your life / That no one will cry / At my funeral?"

The Heroin Diaries goes downhill a bit from there, however. "Pray for Me" has too poppy a sound for the dark lyrics, and overall it sounds too much like The Killers.

Then there are the cheesy power ballads "Tomorrow" and "Accidents Can Happen" – which work well enough as guilty pleasures but can't be taken seriously. The latter is told from the standpoint of a friend after one of Sixx's relapses.

Not to mention "Intermission," a voiceover track with music that sounds cribbed from a Tim Burton movie soundtrack. Or "Dead Man's Ballet," quite possibly a rejected Sixx submission to Meat Loaf. And one has to look past the bad voiceover on "Heart Failure," and the fact one of the guitar riffs sounds a lot like Green Day's "Brain Stew," to realize it's a pretty decent, guitar-heavy song on the whole.

"Girl With Golden Eyes" is the best ballad here, using said girl as a metaphor for heroin ("I let her in my veins…Every time, she whispers, take me in your arms"). The voiceover bridge proves rather tolerable, recounting day one to day 10 of Sixx's clean life.

Those who have stuck with Sixx through thick and thin will enjoy this record, and even casual fans will find a lot to like. Maybe it'll give hope to a few recovering drug addicts. But all told, it's nothing anyone can't miss.