Time Signature
Rising power...
Genre: hard rock / heavy metal
In my opinion, "Flick of the Switch" is a very underrated album, which contains a series of strong tracks which remain undeservedly obscure. Stylistically, "Flick of the Switch" is a hard rock / heavy metal album with very few nods to boogie rock or blues rock (although the brilliant "Badlands" is based on a very typical blues rock riff, which works extermely well).
While not up there with "Highway to Hell", "Back in Black", and "For Those About to Rock", this album contains several catchy Young & Young style main riffs, as in the case of my favorite "Nervous Breakdown", "Guns For Hire" and "Deep In The Hole". "Rising Power" and "Flick of the Switch" are true rockers whose main riffs are considerably heavy, which serves as a fine contrast to the more melodic "This House is on Fire".
While the two previous albums did not have any weak points, I thing that "Landslide" and "Bedlam in Belgium" are considerably less air-guitar-inspiring than the rest of the tunes on "Flick of the Switch". The same goes for "Brain Shake" although it does contain some nice riffage.
This album has an unpolished and raw production compared to at least the four previous albums, but I think it suits the music well.
I think that this album will appeal to fans of guitar rock - just try not to compare it too much to "Back in Black" and "For Those About To Rock".