Let's go ahead and get this out of the way at the top: yes, it all sounds the same. Are you happy? Now that we've dispensed with that nonsense, let's talk about Black Ice, the first new album from AC/DC in 8 years.
It's unspeakably funny to read critics trash an AC/DC record – without a hint of irony – for being more of the same. They've been writing the same review of every AC/DC record for a quarter century and the band is the problem? What the hell? Of course Black Ice sounds like an AC/DC record. It's supposed to! Do you really want them to change? Do you really want them to evolve? Come on! How many of you are out there thinking, “You know, what would be really great is if AC/DC went Mariachi.” If you are, hit yourself or play in traffic.
Black Ice is an album aimed squarely at the band's fans. They've never evolved, but the flipside is they've never pandered- unless you consider their exclusivity deal with Walmart a pander. I don't like the deal, but it clearly hasn't changed the band or their approach. Brian Johnson's voice doesn't have dynamic shriek, having morphed into a smoother rasp. The Young brothers, Malcolm and Angus, are still bludgeoning listeners with their mastery of the riff. Cliff Williams continues to anonymously hold down the low end on bass, and Phil Rudd's defiantly minimalist powerhouse drumming is still an inspiration and a rock and roll institution.
Say what you will about them, but AC/DC does care about the album as an art form. They're one of a handful of high profile acts who refused to give into iTunes and the digital revolution. Their reason? They refuse to allow their albums to be sold as individual tracks, believing in the integrity of the whole. Personally, I love that. If that's your line in the sand, though, you've got make that real when you deliver a new album. It's not a law that 15 songs is too many on a single album, but years of observation have taught me it most often is. Sometimes less is more.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Glen Boyd
I was never anything like a huge fan, but this album represents the sort of kick in the nuts that rock and roll needs right now. Personally, I think its pretty damn solid straight through...and "Anything Goes" is as good a pop song disguised as kick ass rock and roll as anything I've heard this year.
God Bless em for it, and bring on the tour. I'll still be holding my nose in the WalMart checkout though...
-Glen
2 - JC Mosquito
As I said elsewhere, I think on this album, the band sounds less forced, less like a parody of themselves than on anything they've released in a long time. AS to the lengthy program - are they cleaning out the riff cupboard before calling it a day? Maybe they should just sign over their entire catalog to the next generation of Ozzie rockers - Airbourne, for instance; some people might not even notice the difference.
3 - Mark Saleski
nice review josh. i don't like the deal either, but i will end up picking up this disc. love these guys.
gee, they haven't evolved. friggin' deal with it.
4 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
They're one of a handful of high profile acts who refused to give into iTunes and the digital revolution.
LMAO!!Yet they totally homogenized themselves with this Walmart deal,i.e; clothing,games,useless color changes on 3 different CD covers. What's the difference between this and making the music available online? Who is gonna go to some white trash, ghetto a$$ Walmart to buy a CD?!
AC/DC used to be about unadulterated,explicit & in-your-face ROCK. Now it has been watered down to nothing but G-Rated nostalgia & cheap gimmicks!
5 - Glen Boyd
Who is gonna go to some white trash, ghetto a$$ Walmart to buy a CD?!
I think it was like 180,000 the first day, with 800,000 projected for the week.
Next question?
-Glen
6 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
with 800,000 projected for the week.
Compared with iTunes' 1 Million tracks per day and that was back in 2005...
Next stupid business venture??
7 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
They've been writing the same review of every AC/DC record for a quarter century...
Dude, sorry to disagree but "Highway to Hell" got rave reviews because of the songs and due to Robert John “Mutt” Lange's precise engineering on the board. It was their pinnacle & unfortunately it was their last real killer of a f*cking album...Period
8 - Mark Saleski
i like it when they sing about vikings.
no wait, that was somebody else.
9 - Tom Johnson
Compared with iTunes' 1 Million tracks per day and that was back in 2005...
That's not 1 million AC/DC (or of any one band's) tracks, however. The number of tracks the band themselves would sell on Itunes would probably be relatively low. I don't take the majority of their listeners to be big-time computer/Ipod users, hence the Walmart deal. This won't limit them in the slightest, and later on they can sign a major digital distribution deal that nets them tons of money. To have distributed this album digitally but not the rest would have watered down the impact of something like that. That's smart marketing, actually. Once they've waited so long, it actually works in their favor to wait a little longer. Hype-building, you know? Notice how long it's taking the Beatles' stuff to make it to Itunes? Everyone goes "oh, big deal, I've already got those tracks" but when they release remasters with bonuses, etc., and it's all on Itunes, it'll be huge. People will be counting the minutes until they're available to download. Same goes for AC/DC, but on a much smaller scale, obviously.
10 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
It doesn't matter whether it's one band's tracks or not. It all has to do with potential sales & lack of overhead which equates to a bigger profit. Especially with this "Green" movement & the amount of natural resources it takes to make CDs (especially ones with the stupid different color arrangement) I don't see how an exclusivity deal with Walmart benefits anyone else than Walmart.
Oh, hell...Why do I care? The new album sucks anyways...
11 - JC Mosquito
I dunno if you can say any AC/DC album sucks - or is great for that matter. They're just.... inevitable. If you get tired of the ones you have, go buy some others - they're all pretty much the same, give or take and, depending on your POV - a strength or a weakness - or maybe both simultaneously.
12 - Josh Hathaway
I don't like exclusivity deals and I don't defend them. I got an advance of the CD, so I didn't have to deal with Walmart on this one.
I don't know that the three different album covers killed the environment. I don't know if they pressed a normal run for all three covers or divided a normal run between three different covers. Either way, you only have to buy the album once -- or not at all, for that matter -- so I'm not bothered by this.
Critics have been writing "it all sounds the same" reviews going back to Dirty Deeds. That you happen to disagree doesn't mean it hasn't been done. That album is almost 30 years old now, though, so we're talking about the post Back in Black output, which has certainly seen its fair share of "it's all been done" reviews.
Black Ice really doesn't suck. It's a solid album that runs a bit too long but has some excellent moments.
13 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Well I happen to disagree because it's not true!
It hasn't happened for every album, possibly the post Back in Blackera... but I don't know. I just know it didn't happen for Highway. That was my point.
btw, the new album does suck, stop watering down the truth.
14 - Josh Hathaway
Oh, you're right. My bad. It does suck. Now that you've told me I'll revise my review.
My point was that it's happened for a quarter century and since Highway is outside of that, your point has no point.
The album doesn't suck. So there.
15 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Josh, I knew you were going to write a comment like that because your probably one of the few AC/DC "fans" that considers anything past Back in Black worth listening to. That's fine if that's what you truly believe but don't try to pass that BS off onto the people who can understand that, unfortunately, AC/DC died with Bon Scott.
That their worthy material never received reviews of "just the same" and that only their crap after Back... could be viewed as such!
Yea..This album really does suck. You're in denial and a little too nostalgic.
16 - Josh Hathaway
I do tend to prefer the Bon Scott era, I don't dismiss the Brian Johnson era out of hand.
I'm not trying to pass anything off to anyone, BS or not. Some people are closed off to the possibility that AC/DC can make a good album. Some people are closed off to the idea that Brian Johnson can make a good album with AC/DC. If someone enters the conversation with either of these prejudices, there's nothing I can say to convince them otherwise.
On the other hand if someone is open minded, or open minded enough to accept that past experience and personal prejudices can at least sometimes be wrong, now we've got something to talk about. I'm speaking to the open minded crowd here, Brian. The album doesn't suck. I listened to it. You've really got to be a contortionist to make openmindedness into denial. Don't buy the record, dude. We get that you don't like it. You've made yourself very clear.
17 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
My Gawd!! The passive, political correctness on this website amazes me! No wonder why the music industry in this country sucks! Everyone has sent their f*cking balls overseas with all the jobs!
Spare me the "open minded" retort. It doesn't take an open mind to see that this new album is a watered down continuation of the garbage that AC/DC has been spewing for the past decade. The great AC/Dc of 30 years ago would've never had anything to do with a company that has had such a censorship crusade!
They are retiring with an unoffensive addition to their discography. Maybe they should give the spotlight to a more deserving band.
18 - Josh Hathaway
The open minded retort comes out because you've made it clear you never gave this album a chance. I don't give a toss if you like it or not. There are some people who are beyond convincing. If you think it's a display of balls to presume something bad before you hear it, we disagree on something else.
Who sells their record speaks to the business practices, not the quality of the music. It's not 30 years ago. Decoding the logical inconsistencies in your arguments could keep a bank of supercomputers running for another 30 years.
19 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
If you think it's a display of balls to presume something bad before you hear it, we disagree on something else.
Do you think just because you received an early copy to review that I haven't listened to it yet? HA!!
My logic may be something that you can't grasp but that's your problem not a problem for a branch of MIT in Cambridge.
Who sells their record speaks to the business practices, not the quality of the music. It's not 30 years ago.
This definitely proves what's wrong with the music industry as well as the people who report what is worthy about it. You can go on and keep spouting off about how your open mind brings you to a conclusion of acceptance for an album that will degrade in most serious music lover's minds in about a day because you wanna save face on a website that allows several poor reviews of the same crappy album.
BUT, your shallow attempts at masking a personal attack about my intelligence just goes to show why you are writing about music and not playing it. When the money is all spent, no one cares about record sales & 95% of the people will throw in a copy of "Highway" before they ever get around to a second spin of that nauseating shite!
20 - Mark Saleski
because your probably one of the few AC/DC "fans" that considers anything past Back in Black worth listening to. That's fine if that's what you truly believe but don't try to pass that BS off onto the people who can understand that, unfortunately, AC/DC died with Bon Scott.
so, the millions of people who purchased Back In Black and For Those About To Rock... they did this why? because they were morons? and then all of the Brian Johnson-era concerts, full of people having a great time, listening to stuff like Heatseaker, Fly On The Wall, etc. etc. that was all an illusion? we really thought it sucked but had nothing better to do?
does it make you feel better to spout unfounded cliches about people?
bizarre.
21 - Mark Saleski
political correctness? what, we're back to this whole "music has intrinsic merit" crap? sorry, it doesn't. you may believe it, but it doesn't.
political correctness? nah, that wouldn't stop me from saying that i prefer Brian Johnson-era AC/DC over that pretentious twat Yngwie Malmsteen.
actually, i don't think Malmsteen is a pretentious twat, it was just fun to type.
22 - Mark Saleski
My logic may be something that you can't grasp...
since when does attention-whoring follow logic?
23 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
"Intrinsic Merit"?? When did I ever claim such a thing? Talk about attention-whoring...
How could music ever have anything that doesn't need to be translated?! Though the instruments and equipment could be intrinsic but I guess it depends on whether you're talking about philosophy, technology or science.
so, the millions of people who purchased Back In Black and For Those About To Rock... they did this why? because they were morons?
A lot of people also purchased Ashlee Simpson's music as well but I will never be able to explain why. Maybe because their friends did & so on. Kinda like peer pressure. The need to fit in??
You & Malmsteen...Love,Hate,Love?
24 - Josh Hathaway
I don't know whether you listened to it or not, but you have made clear in your comments you weren't going to like it whether you took the time or not. You were closed off to it. Listening to it for you was a formality, a way of confirming your biases.
I wasn't insulting your intelligence, Brian. I wasn't even accusing you of insulting mine. ;) That your logic is contradictory in multiple instances doesn't mean you're unintelligent, just that there are flaws in your logic. The fact that I'm not playing music doesn't mean I don't know anything about it any more than having a different opinion than you does. You think you're right. I think you're different. That speaks volumes right there.
I abhor exclusivity deals and said so on numerous occasions. Of course the music industry has problems, but industry problems are not what makes this a good a bad record.
25 - Mark Saleski
"Intrinsic Merit"?? When did I ever claim such a thing? Talk about attention-whoring...
when you say that this record is better than that one, that it's a fact...then that is when you're talking about intrinsic merit.