Black Ice is the upcoming fifteenth studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, set to be released on October 18, 2008 for Australia
and October 20 for the rest of the world. It will be their first album in eight years, since the release of Stiff Upper Lip in 2000, the
longest gap between AC/DC's studio albums to date. The album was produced by Brendan O'Brien and recorded and mixed by Mike Fraser at The
Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
In a 2004 interview, Brian Johnson revealed that for the first time since the 1988 album Blow Up Your Video, he would be handling lyrics. He
also said that Angus Young has written harder riffs than those on Stiff Upper Lip.
As of January 2006, AC/DC were working on the album, and according to Malcolm Young at that time, "The band are currently writing and
recording material for the eagerly anticipated next album, but no release date has been set."
In April 2008, AC/DC's official website confirmed the release of the new album with producer Brendan O'Brien and audio engineer Mike Fraser,
but did not confirm a release date.
In June 2008, Reuters reported that the album would be distributed solely by Wal-Mart stores in the United States, and that HMV stores in
Canada were advertising the album with an October release date.
On August 15, AC/DC recorded the video to accompany the first single from the album, "Rock 'n Roll Train", in London. Three days later, an
announcement was made on the band's official website, stating that Black Ice would be released on October 20, 2008.
"Rock n' Roll Train" was released on August 28. The video of "Rock n' Roll Train" appeared on the band's website on September 19. That day
also saw the release of the album's second single, "War Machine", and the release of a brief appraisal of the album by Rolling Stone
magazine, citing that "Brian wails about skies on fire, blood in his eyes, storms raging, lightning flashes, hard rain and pretty
women...Angus Young shreds throughout...Malcom Young, Cliff Williams and Phil Rudd ? are solid as a rock." as well as making a surprise
statement that Angus Young uses a slide in the song "Stormy May Day". The magazine also named several tracks before the official release of
the track listing.
Several days after the original version of the album was made available for pre-order, the band's website store listed two variations of
cover artwork available for the CD in addition to the original red logo. These were a yellow logo and a silver logo. All three versions
feature the exact same music and content with a black background. However, the gray designs behind the band's logo are different on each of
the two different covers. There is also a hardcover Deluxe Edition (blue logo) available which will contain a 30-page booklet with exclusive
new illustrations, studio and live photographs of AC/DC
Track Listing:
01. Rock 'n Roll Train 4:21
02. Skies on Fire 3:34
03. Big Jack 3:57
04. Anything Goes 3:22
05. War Machine 3:09
06. Smash 'n' Grab 4:06
07. Spoilin' for a Fight 3:17
08. Wheels 3:28
09. Decibel 3:34
10. Stormy May Day 3:10
11. She Likes Rock 'n Roll 3:53
12. Money Made 4:15
13. Rock 'n' Roll Dream 4:41
14. Rocking All the Way 3:22
15. Black Ice 3:25
Who We Are ?
ACDC - Black Ice (2008)
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