After hearing "Rock And Roll Train," the opening track and lead single from AC/DC's new album Black Ice, it is clear that AC/DC wants to give fans the same thing it gave them 30 years ago: power-chord-driven guitar riffs, screaming vocals, and pumped-up choruses. With a few exceptions, the album stays true to this formula for its 55 minutes - the longest work AC/DC has ever released. To try to reach a younger audience, the group turned to producer Brendan O'Brien, who produced albums for some of the most successful acts of the '90s, including Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, The Offspring, and Incubus. Fans expecting any similarity to these groups will be disappointed - O'Brien helped craft some of the songs and refine the sound, but the album still sounds like it could have come out in 1985.
Black Ice is certainly frontloaded; the opener "Rock and Roll Train" is easily the highlight of the album. The song's catchy riff and big chorus explain why the video has garnered over 1.5 million views in a month on YouTube. "Skies on Fire" and "Big Jack" are not on the same level as the opener, but they still keep the listener interested and wanting to see what comes next.
AC/DC's only significant variation from their tried-and-true formula comes on the surprisingly Journey-esque "Anything Goes." Instead of massive riffing, the guitars here serve to augment the vocals as opposed to the other way around, and they sound more like a keyboard than the Gibson SG growl that AC/DC guitarist Angus Young helped define. O'Brien's influence is notable as singer Brian Johnson substitutes his scream for a strong but melodic vocal delivery that makes this song the most interesting on the album.
The next four tracks can only be described as filler. It is as if the group is writing songs that would be easy on Guitar Hero instead of trying to make great rock music. On tracks 5 through 8, AC/DC sounds like a cheesy '80s imitation of itself, disappointing any diehard fans. AC/DC is not a band that tries to make a serious artistic statement, but it does not fail to provide fun, hard-rocking songs on this portion of the album. "Decibel" and "Stormy May Day," are better, but not enough to save the album. Ironically, "Decibel" relies more on a muted guitar riff and rhythm to get the song going, and "Stormy May Day" delivers a massive slide guitar riff that is among the album's best. Still, these songs do not get stuck in your head or leave you wanting more. The album stays dull until the final song, "Black Ice" which delivers a dark and subdued riff that reunites heavy metal with blues. It's too bad most listeners will not make it to track 15.
AC/DC invented an oft-imitated paradigm for hard-rock music, so it is hard to criticize them for relying on it for 14 out of 15 songs on an album. The problem with Black Ice is the filler. The choruses often fall flat, the riffs don't get you going, and the songs sound repetitive (about a third of the song titles have some form of the word "rock"). If vinyl was still in and this album was eight songs long, it would be a winner, but, in the digital age, AC/DC does not deliver. C
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