AC/DC needs no re-introduction. Even with an eight-year break from the music scene, the band's long-standing, long-ruling sound of high-energy rock has no match.
They leave out the bagpipes on Black Ice, and leave it to the premiere rhythm guitars and heavy snare beat to emphasize the dynamics between lead singer Brian Johnson and the legendary guitarist with mystique, Angus Young.
I was most afraid Johnson's unmatchable, freakishly high voice would weaken, but it's just as strong as the day he started. Every so often on this record he dips to his lower registers, adding a bluesy element to the sound, but he quickly reverts back to the iconic falsetto.
He has never fully matched the power of the late lead singer and songwriter Bon Scott, but he has never tried, instead carving out his own niche in the band and satisfying the long time fans and attracting new ones.
Angus Young has not lost a beat of his schoolboy energy and his guitar is still crisp, agile and frenetic like the most beautiful of AC/DC riffs. Rock Band aficionados: even on expert level you won't be able to capture these licks, like Spoilin' for a Fight
Rock and Roll Train and Decibel. He even adds a little southern twang on Stormy May Day with the confident slides of a master music magician.
Some of the songs are a little more mainstream this time around, going hand in hand with the fact that this album was released exclusively at Wal-Mart. Consequentially, some of the songs don't sound quite like familiar AC/DC. Anything Goes rings of old Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers more than scruffy British lads who can shake it all night long. Skies on Fire rocks, but it holds an amalgamation of old hard rock bands, just not the rock stars whose name is on the cover.Luckily, they merge back onto the highway to hell with Big Jack and War Machine with all the bombastic glory of the past.
Black Ice spoils the fans with a generous 15 songs, all of which should be amazing on stage. Overall, it's as if the eight years have not passed.
17
Archives
Susan Tebben
