On a whim, I recently decided to take a deep dive into Power Up, the latest album from Australian rockers AC/DC and their seventeenth overall. Not sure why – maybe I just felt like I needed some more classic rock in my life. And my initial assessment upon listening? It sounds like an AC/DC album, in the same way that every other AC/DC album before it has sounded like an AC/DC album. AC/DC are nothing if not consistent.
Yes, an AC/DC album sounding on brand is nothing surprising, but that sonic consistency is actually one of the band’s biggest assets. After all, you don’t go to AC/DC expecting flirtations with EDM or a Spinal Tap Mark II jazz odyssey. No, you go to them for those big riffs, Brian Johnson’s distinctive vocals and to think, “Wow, that 65 year old man is really still committed to wearing a schoolboy’s outfit, eh? Good for him, I guess.”
In a way, listening to a new AC/DC album is a bit like going to a chain restaurant – you know what to expect, you know it’ll be more or less the same every time, and even when there’s something new on the menu, it still has the same signature style. But often, that’s exactly what you’re in the mood for. And this new chapter in AC/DC’s story certainly holds up to the band’s legacy.
I could go into greater detail and describe the specifics of each song, but honestly, do I really need to? If I say that it sounds like AC/DC, pretty much everyone will know what I mean, unless they’re been hiding in a cave for the past 50 years or so. That said, it’s a pretty good effort with a few memorable tunes, and considering all that the band has been through in recent years (Brian Johnson’s hearing issues, Phil Rudd’s legal troubles, the 2017 death of Malcolm Young) the fact that the band even put out another album is pretty impressive.
Anyways, here’s Wonderwall “Realize.”