AC/DC – BLACK ICE ***1/2

Track listing (standout tracks in bold)
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"
Taking a break from the 1001 Albums project to review the new AC/DC album to be released on October 20 – exclusively in the US at Walmart!!
To begin with – this release can be looked at on two different levels. The first is the ‘why bother’ level. As in ‘why bother’ to have made this album. It breaks no new ground. It is power riffs and growling vocals. It’s the same album they have been releasing over and over since “Back In Black”. Let’s be honest – it didn’t take the 8 years between this and their last release to write and hone this work. A few bottles of Aussie whiskey and a few jam sessions were all they would need to write and record this album. Quite simply - it’s a new product to tour behind. One wonders how many of these new tracks will make it into the set list between the tracks the fans are there to hear. A nice career retrospective ‘greatest hits’ with the obligatory new track or 2 and an “anniversary tour” would have worked just as well.
All of that aside – that brings us to the next level to view the album. It’s not like they were going to change the formula or "sell out" - even if it's the same thing regurgitated over and over – this is what is expected of AC/DC. And on that level they deliver! There is a level of comfort when you put on a record of theirs. You know what your gonna get!! The Angus Young bad ass riffs ripple up and down your spine, the heavy thundering drums shake you all night long (sorry). The songs stomp and pound from one to the other. You can’t help but bang your head along. Isn’t that what music is all about anyway!! You just FEEL good jamming along with the tracks. Do you need to know the names of the songs? Do you need to be able to decipher the lyrics? No – this is feel the tingle in your crotch music. Primal to the bone. So yes, one might point to the predictable verse/chorus/verse/solo/verse structure of these songs, but that is, and always has been AC/DC at it’s core. Many bands have copied this formula – but AC/DC invented it – and they never realized you couldn’t copy the soul with it. All they do is make you long for the original. And here they are making you feel 16 again air guitar jamming in the bedroom of your parents house!