Post by Copelasmatron on Nov 9, 2008 9:15:15 GMT -5
Black Ice is not really a bad AC/DC album, but the opportunity for it to be a great one really was missed. The basics of the songs are there, even if the riffs are often recycled. The problem is that while the songs are intially catchy enough with decent riffing, they do not build a momentum and rather just flatline halfway through. I keep listening through the album and trying to decide what a good first single would have been (rather than Rock n Roll Train) but there really aren't any candidates that meet the standard.
Rock n Roll Train is basically a Highway to Hell rewrite but rather than build into the classic that Highway to Hell does, RnR Train dies after the first chorus. This is the problem with all of the better songs on here. They get your foot tapping along to a great riff, then the song dies.
Another issue is the quality of the lyrics. The lyrics have been pretty poor since the Youngs started penning them in 1990 but here they are pretty much nonsensical. They are truly awful and it is to the detriment of the album. They really just seem like random lines thrown in here and there with references to storms, decibels, liking rock n roll etc. The lyrics during both the Bonn Scott and Brian Johnson writing eras both had their clever moments, even if the subject matter was nothing too meaningful
So, I say this was a missed opportunity to do a great album. If more time were spent shaping the songs beyond the intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, end structure and if Brian (or anyone in the band) had at least helped with the lyrics it could have been so much better. There should only have been 10 songs and the album should have been called Decibel. It's not a great song but it sounds like an AC/DC album title. Black Ice is a nonesense song and a nonesense title.
The best thing on the album is Cliff Williams. His bass is pushed right up front and he gets to do a few riffs for a change.
The album is better than Ballbreaker but not as good as anything that came before it. I never bought Stiff Upper Lip after being burned by Ballbreaker so I can't comment on that one.
3 stars because there are some good tunes on hear. No classics, unfortunately.
Rock n Roll Train is basically a Highway to Hell rewrite but rather than build into the classic that Highway to Hell does, RnR Train dies after the first chorus. This is the problem with all of the better songs on here. They get your foot tapping along to a great riff, then the song dies.
Another issue is the quality of the lyrics. The lyrics have been pretty poor since the Youngs started penning them in 1990 but here they are pretty much nonsensical. They are truly awful and it is to the detriment of the album. They really just seem like random lines thrown in here and there with references to storms, decibels, liking rock n roll etc. The lyrics during both the Bonn Scott and Brian Johnson writing eras both had their clever moments, even if the subject matter was nothing too meaningful
So, I say this was a missed opportunity to do a great album. If more time were spent shaping the songs beyond the intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, end structure and if Brian (or anyone in the band) had at least helped with the lyrics it could have been so much better. There should only have been 10 songs and the album should have been called Decibel. It's not a great song but it sounds like an AC/DC album title. Black Ice is a nonesense song and a nonesense title.
The best thing on the album is Cliff Williams. His bass is pushed right up front and he gets to do a few riffs for a change.
The album is better than Ballbreaker but not as good as anything that came before it. I never bought Stiff Upper Lip after being burned by Ballbreaker so I can't comment on that one.
3 stars because there are some good tunes on hear. No classics, unfortunately.
