Philip George, Spring 2009 Assistant Sports Editor
Following an eight-year hiatus, AC/DC finally returned to the studio and crafted what lead singer Brian Johnson calls the best album the band has ever put out.
“Black Ice,” the iconic Australian hard-rock group’s 15th studio album, hit stores Oct. 20, a day that saw approximately 190,000 copies sold, according to Billboard.com. Released two days earlier in Australia, the album reached number three on the charts.
What “Black Ice” brings to the table is a comprehensive array of songs, some dipping into AC/DC’s hard-rock past while others introduce a more melodic sound. This combination is sure to simultaneously entertain and intrigue the band’s followers.
AC/DC’s newest work brings back the same cast of characters who recorded “Stiff Upper Lip,” the band’s last album in 2000; Johnson on vocals, Angus Young on lead guitar, Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar, Cliff Williams on bass, and Phil Rudd on drums. Producer Brendan O’Brien, who has worked with Bruce Springsteen and Rage Against the Machine, among many other prominent artists, is new to the team.
It is O’Brien who Johnson credits with the relatively new “bluesy” material contained in the album.
“He stopped me one day and said, ‘Brian Johnson, you are a soul singer. You’ve been singing rock ‘n’ roll because you had to, but you are a soul singer. I want you to sing that way,” said AC/DC’s frontman in an Oct. 20 interview with Darryl Sterdan of 24 Hours Vancouver.
Listeners are taken back to 1979 at the first sound of Angus’ blaring guitar with the album’s initial track “Rock ‘N Roll Train,” its opening riff comparable to that of an AC/DC classic, “Highway to Hell.”
“Stormy May Day” presents another catchy guitar rift, this one played on the slide guitar – an AC/DC first. Also unusual is Johnson eschewing his signature screeching vocals on most tracks, favoring instead a deeper, more natural voice.
In fact, “Black Ice” may contain a personal retirement notice with “Rock ‘N Roll Dream.” Its lyrics, “You feel you’re winning, that’s what it’s all about, knowing you are winning, and it could be the very last time,” set to somber tones possibly signify the end of a 35-year run.
“Black Ice” concludes with its title track, also bringing back a classic feel with Johnson’s growling on about the devil and threatening to “creep crawl down your street and gouge your eyes out.”
AC/DC embarked on their multi-country “Black Ice World Tour” yesterday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and is set to perform at the Forum in Los Angeles Dec. 6 and 8. Tracks from “Black Ice” will likely feature heavily in the set list, so grab a copy if you want to sing along. It could be the very last time.
AC/DC’s ‘Black Ice’ shatters eight-year rest ()