Music : AC/DC 'Black Ice'

Album Info :

Artist : AC/DC
Album : Black Ice
Realese Date : 20 Oct 2008
Number of Discs: 1
Label: sonyBMG
ASIN: B001F2W4Y2
Genre : Hard Rock & Metal /Heavy Metal, Rock

Description :

Their first album in eight years, the longest gap of time between any two AC/DC albums, Black Ice is a heavier effort than 2000's 'Stiff Upper Lip'. Angus Young makes use of heavier riffs and shredding throughout, which adds to the infamous wail of singer Brian Johnson, who takes control of lyricalduties for the first time in twenty years. The album is preceded by the single, 'Rock 'n' Roll Train'.

Amazon.co.uk Review :

Such are the near-generational gaps between latter-day AC/DC albums that it's always tempting to hail the arrival of a new one as a return to form. Black Ice arrives a whopping eight years after the band's last offering, Stiff Upper Lip, but one chorus into "Rock N Roll Train", the wise man would conclude that any evolution here is as slow and incremental as, well, evolution. A punchy, straightforward opener that finds Angus Young in good riff and Brian Johnson preaching a familiar gospel of schoolgirls and schoolboys, fantasy and ecstasy, it's familiar in the best possible way. A little deeper into Black Ice, however, and there's evidence of a slightly altered approach. Producer Brendan O'Brien softens and fleshes out the stripped-down, electric blues sound AC/DC rediscovered on 1995's Ballbreaker, and in places the band follow suit––take "Anything Goes", a poppy stomp that recalls O'Brien's other recent charge, Bruce Springsteen. Elsewhere, "Stormy May Day" and "Money Made" find Young taking up the slide for a few Zeppelin-flavoured licks. A few new paths, then, but all in all, the destination is pretty much the same: another solid late-period AC/DC album that, while unlikely to dislodge Back in Black from the fan's pedestal, finds its makers rocking into ripe old age. ––Louis Pattison

Album Review :

by. Peter Kimpton (guardian.co.uk)
What difference can an age make? Back in 1980, then a young Mancunian, I'd swap all kinds of LPs with schoolmates - Joy Division for the Jam, the Fall for the Specials, Dead Kennedys for Vienna by Ultravox. And then someone lent me AC/DC's Back in Black. At first I squirmed - AC/DC surely belonged to the headbangers, fans of Whitesnake, Rainbow or Judas Priest. Oh no, not for me. They weren't cool at all.
But Back in Black was different. Its sharp, staccato riffs and punkish screams broke down my self-conscious nearly-teen taste. It, I had to admit, was 'skill'. Now, 28 years later, that catchy monster has returned. AC/DC have rolled back the years and the trouser legs: Black Ice is nearly Back in Black II, and easily their best effort since. And what timing. With Metallica and Kings of Leon selling like hot (rock) cakes, music's tectonic plates seem to have shifted slightly to an age of harder rock.

Of AC/DC's astonishing 200 million album sales, 42 million alone came from Back in Black. But in the mid-Eighties they began to lose momentum

and potency. Their last two albums - the boogie-ish Ballbreaker (1995) and Stiff Upper Lip (2000) - remained in Black's shadow.

So what's changed? It may have been deja vu, or strong coffee, but Black Ice actually made my heart beat faster - no small thing for a non-metal fan. The opener and single, 'Rock'n'Roll Train', is precisely that - Angus and Malcolm pump out red-hot riffs with remorseless momentum, Brian Johnson's high-pitched throatiness is stoked up on rock'n'roll steam, 'living on the ecstasy'. Despite that inevitable Eighties cliche - the overblown chorus ('laid back on the track') - it's all as tight as a gnat's chuff.

But Black Ice, in one sense, is laid back on every track. Springsteen producer Brendan O'Brien has brought a cleaner, more pared-back sound, less crammed with noise, but just as voluminous. So while there are one or two duffers, the new album bristles with belters. 'War Machine' begins sparsely, before building to a menacing climax. And while its title suggests otherwise, 'Decibel' is quieter, and cleverly sculptured, with Johnson's voice lower and smokier.

'Stormy May Day' begins with a Zeppelin-esque slide guitar, before a sturm und drang eruption. 'Big Jack' is simply enormous, 'Money Made' is industrial-strength and 'Rock'n'Roll Dream' possesses, improbably, an eerie wistfulness, as Johnson muses that 'it could be the very last time'. Wistful? Well, in a sledgehammer sort of way.

Black Ice could have been a cock-rock disaster or a Derek Smalls-type 'jazz odyssey', but, much to their credit, AC/DC have stuck to their guns with electrifying results. Chiefly, this is thanks to Angus Young, the diminutive, school uniform-wearing, stage-hopping guitar hero. Now, more than ever, he resembles wee Jimmy Krankie, but his contribution to Black Ice is... well, fandabidozi. He, along with the rest of AC/DC, can still teach the kids a thing or two about rock'n'roll.

Download 'War Machine'; 'Decibel'; 'Stormy May Day'

Track List:

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”

AC DC War Machine



AC/DC 'War Machine' lyrics

Push your foot to the floor
Don’t need no more
You’ve been peekin’ all around
While they’re messin’ about

Better get your name, come on in
Gimme that thing and feed your war..

War Machine

Make a stand, show your hand
Call in the high command
Don’t think, just obey
I’m like a bird of prey

So better get your name, come on in
Gimme that thing and feed your war..

War Machine

Better watch your back
‘N cover your tracks
Kick your foot through the door
Hit the deck, know the score
They take you by surprise
And here’s mud in your eye

This will be the day they shouldn’t forget
Call of the wild, hungry for more
And feed your..

War Machine

Let’s go.

I’ve seen your war …

War Machine