Black Ice (album)

''Black Ice'' is the fifteenth studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. Released internationally on 20 October 2008, it was produced by Brendan O'Brien. It marked the band's first original recordings since 2000's ''Stiff Upper Lip sustained an injury and the band changed labels from Elektra Records to Sony Music Entertainment. The first composing sessions between guitarists/brothers Angus and Malcolm Young were in London in 2003. Recording happened during March and April 2008 at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. O'Brien tried to recapture the rock sound of the band's early work, as opposed to the blues orientation of ''Ballbreaker'' and ''Stiff Upper Lip'', with suggestions such as adding "soul crooning" to Brian Johnson's singing. The songs were mostly recorded live in the studio; engineer Mike Fraser used only sparse overdubs and effects to keep the tracks as close to the originals as possible.

''Black Ice'' was released exclusively in physical formats, as the group did not sell its music digitally at the time. Walmart got exclusive rights to distribute the album in North America. Its release was promoted with an extensive marketing campaign, which included displays of AC/DC memorabilia. The four singles issued from the album were, "Rock 'n' Roll Train", " Big Jack", "Anything Goes", and "Money Made". ''Black Ice'' peaked at number one in 29 countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. It was the second best-selling record of 2008, behind Coldplay's ''Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends'' and had shipped 6 million copies worldwide by December. Critical reviews were generally positive, praising the music and its resemblance to the classic AC/DC sound, although some critics found the work too long and inconsistent. The track "War Machine" won the Best Hard Rock Performance category at the Grammys. The album itself was nominated for many awards, including the Grammy, Brit, Juno and ARIA Music Awards; and was supported by a world tour between 2008 and 2010.

''Black Ice'' was the final album to feature the ''Back in Black''-era lineup of the band, with founding rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young leaving the band in September 2014 after being diagnosed with dementia, eventually dying from the illness in 2017.

Production

''Black Ice'' is AC/DC's fifteenth studio album release in Australia and their fourteenth international release. The band took a break after finishing the Stiff Upper Lip World Tour in 2001, and resumed performing in 2003, with eight presentations that included AC/DC's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and they opened three concerts for The Rolling Stones' Licks Tour. During those two years, guitarists Angus Young and Malcolm Young wrote music separately, then met in a London studio to work on new songs.

The production of ''Black Ice'' was delayed for several reasons. AC/DC left their label Atlantic Records, signed a deal with Sony Music and changed labels within Sony from Epic Records to Columbia Records. Bass guitarist Cliff Williams suffered an injury to his hand in 2005 and was unable to play for 18 months. While Williams was recovering, the Young brothers perfected the songs they had written. Angus revealed that there was no pressure from Sony for the band to release a new album, as the label was releasing DVDs and remasters of the AC/DC catalogue, and thus the group "could afford to sit back and say we'll do another album when we think we've got all the goods." In a 2004 interview, vocalist Brian Johnson said that Angus had written harder riffs than those on ''Stiff Upper Lip'' and that he would be writing song lyrics for the first time since the band's 1988 album ''Blow Up Your Video'', but his input would end up minimal, with all tracks on ''Black Ice'' credited to the Youngs. Johnson explained that the brothers had done most of the lyrical job, and his collaboration was that he "helped with melody and just filling in gaps that I thought needed filling in".

While producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange expressed an interest in working again with AC/DC, his schedule did not allow this. When the Young brothers called Columbia Records' president Steve Barnett to announce the making of a new album, Barnett recommended producer Brendan O'Brien. Angus said the band had considered talking to O'Brien since the 1990s, as "he seemed to us a very competent professional" and because he and the band would benefit from working with a producer they had not worked with before.

On 3 March 2008, recording started at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, where ''Stiff Upper Lip'' was recorded, and lasted for eight weeks. Engineer Mike Fraser, who has mixed all AC/DC albums since '' The Razors Edge'', said they recorded in batches of three songs to "keep things interesting" and to avoid overextended sessions. According to Fraser, the band had not rehearsed the songs before entering the studio. Despite "a couple of tweaks in the writing, sparkling up the choruses a bit better" during the recording, the compositions were mostly complete. Still, the Young brothers had new ideas during production, including the song "Anything Goes", which was written when the studio sessions were nearly finished. The songs were mostly recorded live in the studio; the instruments and backing vocals were recorded in the live room, and the lead vocals were recorded in both the control room and an overdubbing booth. The performances were first recorded with analogue equipment, as Fraser considers that tape conveys "the sound of rock & roll", and then digitised for mixing and overdubs. Fraser avoided altering the original recordings – "I used Pro-Tools purely as a tape machine" – with no effects on the bass and rhythm guitar, sparse delay and reverb effects on the vocals and other instruments, and overdubs only for the lead guitar and vocals.

The first title considered for the album was ''Runaway Train''. Malcolm suggested using a photograph of a famous 1895 derailment for the cover, but reconsidered after he found that Mr. Big had used it for their album '' Lean into It''. According to Angus, ''Runaway Train'' was rejected because it had been used by many musicians, including Elton John, Tom Petty and Eric Clapton, and he "wanted something unique, new, different". So he suggested ''Black Ice'', which refers to gigs played during winter in Scotland. He said, "it rolled off the tongue" and it reminded him of "radio warnings up north of black ice." Angus was inspired to write the eponymous song by a similar warning heard on his car radio during production.

Composition

With ''Black Ice'', Brendan O'Brien tried to recapture the rock sound of AC/DC's early work on albums such as ''Highway to Hell'' and ''Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap''. He thought the two previous studio albums, ''Ballbreaker'' and ''Stiff Upper Lip'', were blues-influenced. O'Brien tried to focus on the choruses, which he felt were the best part of the AC/DC songs, and encouraged the band to emphasise the "hooky, melodic side" of its song-writing, which Angus complimented, since he had "never been great with harmonies". Mike Fraser said the band aimed "towards ''The Razors Edge'' era, a little bit more up-tempo stuff." O'Brien made suggestions about the band's performance, got Angus to play slide guitar on "Stormy May Day", and told Johnson to swap some screaming for "soul crooning" as Johnson was a soul singer. Johnson was worried that the rest of the band would think this did not suit the band's style of hard rock and roll, but the band was quite receptive. Because of the highly demanding singing style, Johnson only recorded his vocals for one hour a day. The rhythm section continues the basic structure from other AC/DC records; Cliff Williams played bass lines of eighth notes, and Phil Rudd's drumming was a consistent 4/4 time, mostly on his snare, kick drum and hi-hat cymbal. Both musicians expressed contentment with their roles in the band; Rudd said, "I'm not repressing skills. Most drummers are scared to try this", and Williams admitted he plays "the same thing in every song, for the most part", but added "in AC/DC's music, the song is more important than any individual's bit in it".

Angus said that when composing with Malcolm they share ideas to make each track "work together" to form a complete album, and Johnson added "these songs belong together. It's about five boys having a damn good time in a studio." With 15 songs and a running time of over 55 minutes, ''Black Ice'' has the longest running time of any AC/DC studio record. Malcolm said that "about 60 or 70 song ideas" were developed. Angus said that the first attempt to sequence the album resulted in a track list comprising eleven songs, "but as the days went by each band member voted for a new track, and then another, and other one" so they decided to include all the recorded tracks.

Most of the album's tracks are about rock and roll itself–Angus stated, "Certain songs just seem to come to life when you add that phrase". However, other themes served as inspiration. "Money Made" is a criticism on how, according to Angus, in the US "everything is money these days". "War Machine" was based on a documentary on Hannibal, which led to the conclusion that the military has not changed since Ancient Rome. "Wheels" tells about Johnson's passion for motorcars. He described the album's release as the "best one we've done", he felt that while ''Back in Black'' was great for its time, ''Black Ice'' shows the band's versatility. Angus also said he admired the album's diversity, saying "It is sufficiently varied to please people in varied moods".

Release and promotion

On 18 August 2008, Columbia Records announced that ''Black Ice'' would be released on 20 October in the US, and began accepting pre-orders. "Rock 'n' Roll Train" was issued as the first single from the album on 28 August; " Big Jack" and "Anything Goes" followed in some markets, and "Money Made" was an airplay single in Australia and the United Kingdom. The track "Spoilin' for a Fight", was used by the WWE as the theme song for its 2008 Survivor Series event, and "War Machine" would later be included in both a trailer for 2010's ''Iron Man 2'' and the film's soundtrack album in addition to serving as one of the theme songs for WrestleMania XXV.

The CD version was also available in a hardcover, deluxe edition with a 30-page booklet containing exclusive new illustrations, studio and live photographs of the group and lyrics. A limited edition steel-box version, containing the CD, a 20-page colour booklet, a DVD featuring the "Rock 'n' Roll Train" video and a making of documentary, a large AC/DC flag, five stickers and a Gibson guitar pick, was issued in Germany and the United Kingdom in December. The album was released as a double LP on two 180-gram discs in a gatefold package featuring the standard red lettering artwork on the front. The LP was sold through the official website and through independent record shops in the US. An unknown number of copies of the vinyl version were incorrectly pressed; side 1B had tracks from The Clash's '' Live at Shea Stadium''. "Selected Discography and More (Also Selective)". ''Black Ice'' was not issued digitally as the band refused to sell their tracks separately. Angus declared, "If we were on iTunes, we know a certain percentage of people would only download two or three songs from the album – and we don't think that represents us musically." However, the entire album was leaked online a week before the official release. Rumours spread that Sony Music tried to control leaks by releasing fake tracks on peer-to-peer websites.

In North America, Walmart made a deal for the exclusive distribution of ''Black Ice'', though a few independent music shops ordered copies of the album from foreign outlets. Angus declared that the band chose Walmart because the company is the biggest physical music retailer in America, which they believed to be "the best alternative to iTunes". He also said, "There aren't as many record stores these days, and Walmarts are all over America. New York and Los Angeles and Chicago may be covered, but in the heartland of America, Walmart may be the only gig in town." Walmart created over 3000 "Rock Again AC/DC Stores" with displays showcasing the band's albums, branded clothing, the ''No Bull'' DVD, the video game '' AC/DC Live: Rock Band'', and products from sponsors. Gary Severson, a Walmart senior vice president, said that AC/DC was one of the rare artists whose loyal fan-base allowed them to display other merchandise along with the music. In October, MTV, Walmart and Columbia created "AC/DC Rock Band Stores" in cities without regular Walmart retail locations–New York's Times Square and Los Angeles. "Black Ice" trucks were dispatched on the streets of these cities after the release, playing tracks and making stops each day to sell merchandise. Advertising agency Arnold Worldwide was awarded both Best Activity Generating Brand Volume by the Marketing Agencies Association, and Best Retail/Co-Marketing Campaign by ''Promo Magazine'' for ''Black Ice''s marketing campaign.

A digital version of ''Black Ice'' was made available on iTunes, along with the rest of AC/DC's catalogue, on 19 November 2012.

Packaging

The cover art of ''Black Ice'' was drawn by Joshua Marc Levy, art director for Columbia and a longtime fan of the band who volunteered for the project among "many people at Sony who desired to work on it". There are four different covers; the standard edition has a red logo, the deluxe edition has a blue logo, and two variants to the regular design include yellow or white logos. Angus said the options were not to deliver the message that fans would need to purchase all covers. He said, "We know most people will only purchase the record once, in their colour of choice. For me, it's not relevant. What matters is that fans enjoy it. Music is the essence."

After working with the cover for the album, provisionally titled ''Runaway Train'', Levy went on vacation and travelled with Pearl Jam on their 2008 tour. After a concert in Washington D.C., Levy came up with the idea "to do it all graphic black on black" and sketched what would become the yellow artwork. The record company liked it and requested he do two more in the same style, which became the red and white versions. During the promotional photography sessions, Levy made the deluxe edition art. The tracks on the album did not have much influence on the artwork as Levy had heard "maybe 5 songs at that point", but he found it curious that his artwork fit the title track "Black Ice", which was not among the tracks he had heard. Levy said that since the album had many similarities with ''Back in Black'' – "Black" in the title, dark covers, and AC/DC resurfacing with a sound based on the band's early work – the art was "like a time travel, which is why there are so many psychedelic drawings". The artwork's resemblance to a train, echoing lead single "Rock N' Roll Train", was a coincidence, given Levy "never thought of it that way". Atop the image there is a cog with an image of Angus with his fist in the air resembling the statue on ''Stiff Upper Lip'', because Levy "just thought it was great as a continuing icon." The photographs for the booklet and promotional photography were taken by music photographer Guido Karp, in August 2008 in London.

Reception

Professional reviews

Critical reviews of ''Black Ice'' were generally favourable according to Metacritic, which provided a normalised rating of 69 out of 100 based on 24 reviews from mainstream critics. Most reviewers complimented the album's sound, with ''The Village Voice''s Richard Bienstock considering that Brendan O'Brien's production restored a sonority closer to the Vanda and Young produced 1970s albums and effective choruses like those with "Mutt" Lange, and Aaron Burgess of ''The A.V. Club'' finding ''Black Ice'' the most inspired AC/DC album since ''The Razors Edge'' while sounding "harder, hungrier, and more relevant than anything on contemporary radio."

"There's a sense of purpose to this new album that far outstrips its predecessor, ''Stiff Upper Lip''," wrote Paul Eliott in a 7/10 review for ''Classic Rock''. "It sounds bigger and better. It has more energy, more vibe. There's more craft to it, stronger songs, catchier hooks. It is, in short, their best album since… well, the one after ''Back in Black''."

A common argument was that ''Black Ice'' succeeded because AC/DC did not want to change the style that succeeded in previous albums. Bernard Zuel of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' declared that "almost all of he tracklistcould have appeared on any AC/DC album of the past 28 years". Chris Jones of the BBC
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