AC/C Back in 'Black Ice'

The “thunder from down under,” returns with their first album in eight years and it sounds like they’ve never left.

Track by track review of Black Ice:

"Rock and Roll Train”

Even though this song is currently being played a hundred times a day on VH1 Classic and my local classic rock station, it hasn’t gotten the least bit old (and probably never will).

“Skies on Fire”

Brian Johnson’s voice sound just like it did in 1981- strained, scratchy and full of soul. Angus Young’s guitar solo isn’t particularly memorable, but the face-melting riffs in the rest of the song are.

“Big Jack”

Johnson’s vocals are unintelligible pretty much throughout the entire song, but I can’t expect much else from him. The chorus is loud and pretty repetitive, but the song succeeds in giving you the “I’m gonna kick someone’s ass,” attitude.

“Anything Goes”

The poppiest song that AC/DC has ever written. And you know what? It ain’t half bad.

“War Machine”

An AC/DC song with an actual message? No way! After listening to the song a hundred times , I still can’t find the message; I’m too busy focusing on this song’s bru-tal awesomeness.

“Smash N Grab”

A good song, but there’s nothing that makes it stand out.

“Spoilin’ for a Fight”

A nice, toe tappin’ song that gets you in the mood to punch the next guy that walks in through the door, unless he’s 300 pounds and a foot taller than you. This song is also home to a nice guitar solo.

“Wheels”

The intro to this song gets you hooked and the lyrics and pure rock of this song keep you around for more.

“Decibel”

When a song has a title such as this, you have to turn it up as loud as possible and let it blow your eardrums out. The vocals on this track shine and simply put, the guitars are amazing. Let me turn it up a bit louder for you. What? You can’t hear me?

“Stormy May Day”

The best track on the whole album. For some reason, this song reminds me of “Thunderstuck” and I still can’t figure out why. Listening to the song, I can imagine being stuck in the storm Brian Johnson is screaming, uh, singing about. Phew! My arm hurts from all this air guitaring and there’s still five more tracks to go!

“She Likes Rock N Roll”

This song is my anthem. “Um, Marie, it’s probably gonna end up being a stripper’s anthem, too.” “So what? This song is amazing with its fancy guitar work and sexually charged lyrics.”

“Money Made”

Now this is the stripper anthem. Who cares whose anthem it is if the song rocks? The chorus gets a bit repetitive, but at least you can understand almost all of Johnson’s vocals.

“Rock N Roll Dream”

This song is almost a power ballad. What the heck, Malcolm and Angus? At least the boys don’t sound like a bunch of pansies on this song.

“Rocking All the Way”

The fourth song on the album to have the word “rock” in its title. A good song you’d expect to come from AC/DC. It could be a little harder though.

“Black Ice”

Phew! Last song. Quite a ride, huh? A good closer song to remind you that even though the members are pushin’ sixty, the band can still rock harder than anything. Take that, emo bands!