Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Empires pass, they have to for the next stage of evolution and growth to begin, some spectacularly, some with a whimper and some…well some just turn to stone and meld into the background and always acknowledged and remembered with fondness for what they delivered in their lifetimes. Empires pass, and so do legends and for AC/DC, the time to perhaps gather dust is upon one of the greatest Rock bands to ever grace a stage and tear seven bells of Hell out of a studio.
The band’s latest album, Rock Or Bust, perhaps sits far too eagerly between the two offerings within the title but not knowing that it has to choose a side on which to sit, it cannot and should not be content with being labelled as middle of the road; an album that is neither here nor there and in which is easy to just listen to with a slight stray smile appearing every so often as the listener harks back to Black Ice, The Razor’s Edge or Black In Black.
Yes it rocks, like an avalanche of pebbles and stones cascading down an ant hill, it might do some damage but ants are hardy creatures and can normally withstand a knock or two from anything save poison. Yes it rocks and it’s not quite bust either but for as much as you really want the album to scream bite me, for as much as you want Angus Young and Brian Johnson to roll up outside your house and swear blind in your direction and give your ears a going over, the most you seem to get is a polite knock at the door, a civil amount of small talk and a leaflet for loft insulation handed into your awaiting hands. It makes for a break in the day but it hardly is something that you would tell your neighbours to shut their windows over for a couple of hours.
The band have a much publicised year, with Malcolm Young being very ill, the great Phil Rudd having many a head-line written about him in the most unflattering of terms and the band rumoured to have stopped working all together. Perhaps they should have listened to that last one.
Rock Or Bust is by far a long way from one of AC/DC’s great albums, it’s not anywhere near their worst but it just sits and waits like a Labrador puppy with one ear half torn and with a daft smile upon its face in a Dog’s Home, you know you will end up giving it a place to reside but when it takes to chewing up the carpet in frustration it will test your patience.
Empires pass, some even fall. Hopefully it is a little early to write the obituary on one great musical empire just yet.
Ian D. Hall