With the new album “Power up”, AC / DC deliver everything their fans want after a six-year break.
Our criticism:
"Power up" is AC / DC's first studio album in six years.
The late founder of the band Malcolm Young is replaced by his nephew Steve.
The twelve new songs offer everything that AC / DC fans love
But then one was a little surprised: Wasn't drummer Phil Rudd at odds with the law and left AC / DC?
Didn't bassist Cliff Williams say goodbye for good?
And wasn't singer Brian Johnson in danger of going deaf?
And yet they are all reunited on the new album "Power up".
After “Rock or Bust” from 2014 it is the second without rhythm guitarist and band founder Malcolm Young, who died in 2017 and whose place is taken by nephew Steve Young.
"Power up" is the first AC / DC album after a six year break
After a six-year break, the new song collection comes with the typical AC / DC title "Power up", and the numbers also sound typical AC / DC.
The choppy guitar riffs are as always the main component, Steve Young - at 64 years only one year younger than lead guitarist Angus Young - does his uncles credit.
The fans of the almost 50-year-old band from Australia would of course never ask whether a new album is really needed.
That would be an insult to majesty.
And in the end, the three most recent records “Stiff Upper Lip”, “Black Ice” and “Rock or Bust” all reached number one in the German charts, which otherwise never happened.
The sales figures are of course - as is generally the case in the music business - far behind the legendary 50 million copies of "Back in Black" in 1980.
If you approach the new songs without prejudice, you realize: It's good that Johnson is back on the microphone.
Axl Rose from Guns N 'Roses tried hard to replace it, but only Johnson can manage this typical screeching, who in 1980 replaced the deceased Bon Scott, who had a similar organ.
And second: AC / DC by no means sound like an old man's combo (Johnson is 75 years old after all).
The twelve pieces really bang and make younger epigones like Airbourne look almost old.
Of course there is not a ballad on the album.
Centuries hits like “Highway to Hell” or “TNT” will probably not be discovered either, but you can already imagine how the fans will hear the refrains of “Shot in the Dark”, “Wild Reputation” and “Kick You When You Are down “sing along.
With “Through the Mists of Time” and “Witches Spell” you can even find two strong songs that don't quite follow the stereotypical AC / DC pattern.
So you can look forward to the time after Corona, when concerts are possible again.
Because the Australians are best live.
Brian Johnson was given a special hearing aid so he'll be allowed on stage again, and Angus Young still fits into a school uniform.
The question of whether it really has to be at 65 would of course be an insult to majesty again.
Information about the album:
AC / DC: "Power up" (Columbia / Sony Music).