Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3 / 5 Reviewer: Trent McMartin |
Although the band scales back the overt sexism that characterized past releases, AC/DC does abundantly employ their second favourite lyrical subject — unabashed love of rock and roll – for their latest, Black Ice. Look at these song titles — ‘Rock ‘n Roll Train,’ ‘She Likes Rock ‘N Roll,’ ‘Rock ‘N Roll Dream’ and ‘Rocking All the Way.’ I mean, these guys are now in their sixties and they profess their love for rock ‘n’ roll as much or more so than they did in their twenties. Except, unlike in their twenties and thirties, Malcolm and Angus Young can’t write the killer riffs that epitomized such classic albums as Highway to Hell and Back and Black. Sure the guitars are loud and heavy but the riffs don’t pay off. Add to that Brian Johnson’s increasing tendency to shriek, which gets more painful to listen to (and likely for him to sing) each year.
Pearl Jam producer Brendan O’Brien offers up a hands-off approach here, intervening little, following the blueprint left behind by the band’s two previous producers Rick Rubin (Ballbreaker) and George Young (Stiff Upper Lip). And it’s that lack of direction that has really hindered the band’s progress over the past fifteen years. I’m still waiting for a proper follow up to 1990′s The Razor’s Edge, but unfortunately, if recent history indicates, the next attempt won’t be out until 2016.
