The Black Ice.

For those unaware, the hard rock giants AC/DC's latest album Black Ice dominated the Billboard album charts this week with an amazing 784,000 sales. It is unprecedented for two reasons. The first being that this is the first AC/DC record since 2000's by-the-numbers Stiff Upper Lip, a break of eight years that usually would destroy the appeal of most rock bands. The second being that Black Ice is only available at fine Wal-Mart stores across the country as well as the band's website.

But of course, this is AC/DC we're talking about. Most of their major releases came out in the late 70s and early 80s, and yet the band's biggest group of fans seems to be young listeners. They've had two vocalists that were just perfect enough to be iconic in Brian Johnson and the deceased Bon Scott. This band was even cool enough to make a movie as campy as Maximum Overdrive work solely because of their music being on the soundtrack.

In short, AC/DC is no mere rock band.

They've earned their stripes with a smattering of amazing rock albums that never really have a change in style but always create an enjoyable experience for the listener. With Black Ice, the band basically creates the 2008 version of Back in Black. Not that this is a bad thing, of course. "Rock 'N Roll Train" opens the album and is arguably comparable to the number of great singles in the band's past. While it's not as iconic an opener as say Back in Black's "Hells Bells," it totally would fit on Back in Black somewhere between say "Shoot to Thrill" and "What Do You Do for Money Honey." Songs like "Big Jack" and "Anything Goes" re-examine AC/DC's penchant for stories about larger-than-life characters and young, sexy women.

And then the album reaches its high point seven songs in, on a song simply called "Spoilin' For A Fight." Suddenly, any current-era attempt to appeal to the macho crowd by talking about the manliness of fights looks amazingly poor by comparison. In a mere three minutes, AC/DC creates yet another anthemic track that's so simple and yet brilliant at the same time. And while nothing reaches this high point of awesomeness throughout the rest of Black Ice, it never really needs to. After all, Back in Black was still a classic album after that title track was done, right?


Video for "Rock 'n Roll Train."