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AC/DC

Black Ice

Written by: PP on 23/10/2008 14:34:53

Eight long years have passed since the release of the last AC/DC album, "Stiff Upper Lip", and yet in the meantime the band seems to have grown bigger and bigger and bigger... just like they have been doing ever since the 70s. "Black Ice" is the Aussie group's fifteenth studio album, a remarkable achievement in itself, and as such it should surprise no one that it still sounds exactly like the band did in the 70s. But kudos for them, since there still isn't a single band able to imitate Brian Johnson's screechy vocal style nor Angus Young's timeless guitar riffing, so why change now?

Alas, you know exactly what to expect on "Black Ice": lots of groovy, blues-based rock n roll delivered extravagantly and with Motörhead type attitude, though the speed-o-meter isn't quite as stressed on the AC/DC releases. For the most part, the band is still writing the same song over and over again in small variations as they were in the 70s, but when it's this good, does it really matter? "Rock N Roll Train", "Big Jack", and "War Machine" are the kind of tracks that'll enter solid rotation in the band's live repertoire, and with enough time, they should be obvious choices into a 'greatest hits' album, though the band to date has refused all attempts to create such a money-grab, though, after 15 full lengths, I'd love to only have their best songs stuffed on one album that I could pop on at a house party or something.

Disregarding the obvious hits on "Black Ice", the rest of the album is more or less an exercise in hit or miss ideology: some songs hit pretty close to bullseye, while others, like "Money Made", hit about as close to the bullseye as I do on our usual Rockfreaks.net pub crawls when it comes to throwing darts. But essentially, that's what AC/DC has been about for the past 2 decades or so anyway: a couple of thunderous hits that'll stick as classics for the future generations, and a bunch of anonymous re-makes of the same song they've always been writing.

Download: Big Jack, War Machine, Rock N Roll Train
For the fans of: Black Sabbath, Motörhead, Guns N Roses, Alice Cooper
Listen: Myspace

Release date 20.10.2008
Columbia Records