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AC/DC: Black Ice

Australia's seminal rock outfit, AC/DC, are back in black with the stomping, dirty-blues driven Black Ice.

Editorial Review

Release date: 18 October 2008 (Alberts)
Forget sudden timing changes, baroque arrangements and obscure references to the classical canon; when AC/DC rock, they do it the only way they know how: hard, loud and straight up. With Black Ice, their first studio album in eight years and the 16th in a more than 30-year career, AC/DC hit the mark by doing what they do best: belting out honest rock'n'roll. Detractors may say that eschewing several decades of musical experimentation, innovation and new ideas could be a bad thing for a band, and it might be a problem if AC/DC didn't do what they do so damn well.

Yet even AC/DC's reliable, musical formula has yielded a few flops over the years, and Black Ice is a return to form that shows that these 50-something rockers have still got it where it counts - in their shorts. The music is everything an AC/DC record should be: riff-driven, heavy and rooted in the blues, finished with Brian Johnson's trademark growl, with the Young brothers - Angus and Malcolm - conspiring again to show that it is possible to create an endless combination of guitar riffs from just six electric strings.

Black Ice also revives that tube-warm, overdriven Marshall stack sound that defined the band's early releases and is so perfectly suited to their brand of rock. While the album is consistently strong, the dirty-blues chug and soaring lead guitar of Decibel is a standout track, as is the hard-rolling Money Made, driven by a classic Acca-Dacca riff. The stomping Big Jack is another corker, which shows that even though AC/DC are as much a brand as they are a band these days, they're not done yet, and it'll take more than a few grey hairs or burgeoning arthritis to stop them rocking out.

Tracks:
1. Rock'N'Roll Train
2. Skies on Fire
3. Big Jack
4. Anything Goes
5. War Machine
6. Smash N Grab
7. Spoilin' for a Fight
8. Wheels
9. Decibel
10. Stormy May Day
11. She Likes Rock'N'Roll
12. Money Made
13. Rock'N'Roll Dream
14. Rocking all the Way
15. Black Ice