AC/DC PWRϟUP | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

 

Released by Columbia Records on November 13th, 2020

Quick Background

Unless you are an alien researching humankind, AC/DC needs no introduction. It is one of the biggest bands on the planet. They have sold more than 200 million records worldwide, making them the 16th best selling artist worldwide. To give you an idea, Back in Black, their 1980 album post Bon Scott death, has sold an estimated 50 million units worldwide, making it the highest-selling album by any band. It's even more impressive when they are "blamed" for making the same album over and over again. The band name even become synonym to qualify a band that doesn't change their sound, e.g. the AC/DC of thrash metal. So, will Power Up change that? Let's find out.

PWRϟUP

Power Up (stylized as PWRϟUP) is the seventeenth studio album by the Australian rock legends. It marks the return of vocalist Brian Johnson, drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams, all of whom left AC/DC sometime after their previous album Rock or Bust from 2014. This is also be the band's first album since the death of co-founder and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young in 2017 and serves as a tribute to him, according to his brother Angus. The album features 12 tracks, all of them are about 3 minutes long, give or take. So it clocks in at 42 minutes.  

Track number 3 and video single "Shot In The Dark" is a great song and the right choice to bring the band back after all those years. It is best in class AC/DC trademark track. And the video is pretty cool as well. And so is the opener "Realize", in fact all first seven songs are very good. Some of them like "Through The Mists Of Time" have a vibe of late 60's / late 70's rock. So in a way, it feels like they revisited their roots. "Demon Fire" is one o my highlights and the most unique song on the album. First is the fastest tempo song on the album going at 160 bpm, also Brian Johnson uses different registries and drive for parts of it. The guitars are also slightly different with a nice lick from Angus. Another tracks having a different touch is the groovy "Kick You When You're Down" which displays a southern rock vibe specially due to Angus' riff and solo. And then "No Man's Land" doubles down on the southern style. On the later part of the album, I love "Systems Down" which is maybe the heaviest and darkest song on the album (by a small margin though). It also features one the coolest vocal melodies on the bridge before the chorus.

Overall it all sounds like AC/DC and no big surprises. Angus is soloing nicely all over the album, but all very concise. The rhythm section is solid and basic, but it does sound good. We can hear and feel the bass throughout the album and the groovy drums do their job. 

The Picky Guy

The complain is a the cliché but true one, the songs sound a lot like each other. They are all similar in length, tempo (all but 4 are between 110 and 120 BPMs) and level of heaviness. No songs are very heavy but also no ballads or mid-tempo ones. Specially on the second half of the album it all blends together. The good thing is that the song writing is still very good, the energy high and the melodies catchy enough that after a few listens you star to "get it". 

Wrap Up Opinion 

I mean it's AC/DC, so I wasn't expect a jazzy progressive rock or whatwever, what I did want is a very energetic and catchy rock n' roll album. And that my friends, we got it. Is it comparable to the 70's albums, of course not. But in 2020, this is a very good album.2/3 of it is actually excellent for what it is. But it's not perfect as the other third gets repetitive, so at the end of the day, I am giving Power Up 82 out of 100, meaning a boarderline very good album. If you like them, you will like this, maybe even more than other of their recent records. So crank it up, sorry, power it up and have fun.

SCORE: 82/100

Genre: Hard Rock

Released by Columbia Records on November 13th, 2020

Rating System*

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
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