BLACK ICE - Dark Publications

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Album Description
Black Ice is the first full-length studio album of all-new material from AC/DC since the release of "Stiff Upper Lip" in 2000. Produced by Brendan O'Brien at the Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, BC, Black Ice premieres 15 new AC/DC compositions and performances including the album's first single, "Rock 'N' Roll Train".

Customer Reviews: Read 121 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

I expected mediocrity but was pleasantly surprised October 23, 2008
53 out of 56 found this review helpful

It's a good album, folks. Mind you, I'm totally easy to please when it comes to AC/DC. I embrace their all-sound-same style and just look for relatively solid execution. But Black Ice is probably their best release since Fly on the Wall (which is under rated, IMHO). Let me expound. The production on Black Ice is everything a hard rock record should have. Every instrument sounds through the mix clearly. The snare sounds awesome. The guitars sound awesome, which power amp distortion that gets gritty when they push it, but cleans up when they play lightly. Seriously, it has less "distortion" than pretty much any album in the Brian Johnson era but still sounds heavy. The mix is NOT brick wall limited at all, and you can hear/feel the dynamics in the guitar playing so that when they back off, your ears get the break they need just like a live performance. Also, they showed enough restraint in the low end EQ that even when I crank my stock car stereo up the bass doesn't flub out. And after listening to ten songs cranked way up, my ears aren't worn out by loudness-wars pummel like on so many records today. It's probably mixed "loud" relative to '70's records, but shows a lot more dynamics than nearly any heavy music coming out nowadays.

And Brian Johnson sounds really good! Really good. Probably the best since Flick of the Switch, once again. I don't know what physical work he's done on his voice, but he's lost the about-to-die strain I could hear on Stiff Upper Lip. They keep him in the middle of the mix rather than out front, but that works well. He's not buried in the mix like on Fly on the Wall.

Angus plays slide on one tune, which I first thought would be gimmicky when I read about it, but really works great. Sounds awesome. Williams and Rudd sound great, per usual, with Williams bass given a slightly more prominent role. He plays eighth note pumps on virtually every tune, over Rudd's straigh on 4/4 beats. The rhythms are very much allsoundsame, however, if you're looking for something to criticize. The beats, tempos, and that eigth note bass line are pretty predictable. But it's AC/DC after all.

There really aren't any filler tunes on the album either. Every song rocks really well. And unlike their last five albums or so, Johnson's voice doesn't grate on me after listening to five or six songs straight through. Every song is about a seven, eight or nine on a ten scale. On the flip side, I'm not sure which song is a ten on a ten scale, making the choice of radio single less than obvious. But, again, all the songs are at least a seven, so there's no point in the album where the energy gets sucked out. The band is incredibly tight. I know it's a studio album so maybe that's a "duh" statement. But they play together so tightly throughout, which is part of their signature sound. It also makes their sound really predictable, along with the predictable rhythms as mentioned above.

Lyrically, there's not much going on here. Most of the sexual innuendo of their '70's and '80's albums is gone now, which is probably a good thing after tunes like "Cover You in Oil" and "Stiff Upper Lip" made it seem to me that they were trying too damned hard (no pun). The songs are mostly about rocking or about being loud or whatever. Often it's "Whatever" as I'm not sure I could pass a content test about the lyrical content at this point. The Young brothers wrote the lyrics again, as they have done the past several albums. I will say that they haven't written any really stupid lyrics on Black Ice, which is a nice change from the last few albums which all had a couple songs that made you think "WTF?" about the lyrics.

In summary, there's no new ground broken here, which won't surprise anyone. But the production is absolutely awesome, Johnson sounds better than he has a right to, and the band is playing tight as a drum. I may be a dinosaur, but AC/DC still has a unique sound to me that I'm not getting from a lot of new groups. In fact, with so many bands like The Sword copying Black Sabbath so faithfully, I wonder why there aren't more bands stealing from the AC/DC formula. You have Buck Cherry and a couple others, but still no band sounds like AC/DC. I expected this album to sound like Stiff Upper Lip, which was ok but not great. But Black Ice sounds way better than Stiff Upper Lip.

3 out of 5 stars

Better Than Expected October 21, 2008
23 out of 29 found this review helpful

To call the music on "Black Ice", AC/DC's first CD in eight years, redundant would be stating the obvious. Then again, AC/DC has never been known for experimenting with their music. However, with songs such as "Rock N Roll Train", "She Likes Rock N Roll", "Rock N Roll Dream", and "Rocking All The Way" it's obvious that AC/DC is not interested in breaking new ground. Even titles such as "Big Jack" and "Money Made" bring flashbacks to previous song titles. Complains aside "Black Ice" is a vast improvement over the last two AC/DC releases, "Ballbreaker" and "Stiff Upper Lip". The songs stick in the memory banks much easier this time out. For the most part I liked what I heard, however, I couldn't give this CD a five star review. A five star review should be reserved for classics such as "Back In Black", "Highway To Hell", and "Let There Be Rock". While "Black Ice" isn't a terrible release at all it doesn't compare to previous releases. Still, it's recommended.

5 out of 5 stars

Angus & Co. are back and in top form. October 19, 2008
19 out of 23 found this review helpful

Sirius has turned over Channel 29 to the Thunder from Down Under (Channel 53 on XM) -- the music is AC/DC 24/7. Included within the rotation are several songs from Black Ice, including Rock n' Roll train. On this album, AC/DC is going old school, with power chords and power choruses. There is a lot more space in the recordings -- not the wall of sound from Fly on the Wall through Razor's Edge. Nonetheless, Angus's and Malcolm's guitars are in your face, supported by Cliff's driving bass, and Phil's impeccable drumming -- the latter two, due to beautiful production, sound great and give the whole recording a real sense of depth. ...

Since writing the above, (and being criticized) I have bought the album, and I love it. One of the most pleasing aspects of the album is Brian's voice. He actually "sings" on this album, and his voice shows a lot more range (for Brian, anyway). Also the guitar work has a lot of variation, including *gasp* a slide guitar.

If you are a fan of Brian-Era AC/DC, then you are going to love this album.

2 out of 5 stars

Pretty dissappointed... October 21, 2008
12 out of 25 found this review helpful

I've never felt the need to write an album review before. It just seems like I'm listening to a different "Black Ice" than everyone else. I've been a huge AC/DC fan for many years now. I own the remastered CD versions of all of their albums. I've been anticipating this album ever since Stiff Upper Lip came out. After hearing the guys talk about writing better, heavier songs than those on Stiff Upper Lip, I got even more excited. Unfortunately, I took better and heavier to mean louder and faster. I'm not saying that these 60 year old guys should be playing thrash tempos, just that they write something other than the mid-tempo, predictable stuff that they've been dishing out (with a few exceptions) since Fly on the Wall. We've seen the Brian Johnson era do it (Shake a Leg, Landslide, Brain Shake, This Means War, Caught With Your Pants Down, The Razor's Edge, Thunderstruck, and dare I say - Heatseeker), but not nearly enough. This is EASILY their worst album.

2 out of 5 stars

Same Sound, Different CD October 21, 2008
11 out of 25 found this review helpful

If you're an AC/DC groupie, "Black Ice" is a must have. If you're the casual rock-n-roll listener hoping for another anthem, not so much. There are 15 tracks on this new effort, 13 of them are indistinguishable and have the characteristic vocals and instrumentation. The track "Rock-n-Roll Dream" starts as tempo-down, bluesy, but then kicks up-tempo so this one's a bit different but no more a standout. Finally, I was hoping that the title track "Black Ice" - actually the final track on the CD - would be the standout hit but instead derives its familiar, funky beat from Motley Crue's "Too Young to Fall in Love". Guess they were hoping too much time had passed since the '80s for anyone to recognize that, uh no.

So for me, this CD is a big, no-hit disappointment. But like I said at the start, if you're a fan-boy then it's more of what you love about them already, even though they're your grandparents' age now. Well, good for them, I guess.

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