AC/DC — Power Up (review)

Album · 2020 · Hard Rock

3.5/5 · 2020-12-16
UMUR

"Power Up" is the 16th internationally released full-length studio album by Australian hard/heavy rock act AC/DC. The album was released through Columbia Records/Sony Music Australia in November 2020. It´s the successor to "Rock Or Bust" from 2014 and almost miraculously features the same lineup who recorded the predecessor. The miracle consist of the fact that three out of the five members of the lineup have been out of the band at various points and for various reasons since the release of "Rock Or Bust (2014)", but they all returned for the recording of "Power Up". Bandleader and guitarist Angus Young dedicates the album to his brother and fellow AC/DC founder Malcolm Young who passed away in 2017. The material on "Power Up" is credited to both brothers and much of it is vault material Angus Young digged out and rearranged.

Stylistically there are next to no surprises on "Power Up", as AC/DC sound exactly how they have sounded since 1980 when Brian Johnson joined the band after original vocalist Bon Scott´s untimely death. Rusty raw vocals (and well placed backing vocals), sharp hard rocking blues based riffs, a solid rocking rhythm section, and blistering brilliant guitar solos. "Power Up" also features a powerful, raw, and hard rocking sound production (courtesy of producer Brendan O'Brien), so as usual it´s the quality and memorability of the songwriting which separate "Power Up" from other AC/DC albums. The last couple of releases have featured decent quality material and a couple of highlights, and the same can more or less be said about "Power Up", but to my ears AC/DC do sound a little more enganged on this album and there are some really strong tracks on the album like "Through the Mists of Time", "Demon Fire", and especially "Shot in the Dark". The latter even has the qualities to have a chance to become an AC/DC evergreen...only time will tell...

So upon conclusion "Power Up" is not a revolution of AC/DC´s sound but it´s probably exactly what their fans expected from them and in that respect they deliver like they´ve always done. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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Nightfly wrote:

more than 2 years ago

A quick listen to this made me bookmark it to come back to as initial impressions were better than anything they've released for years.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I´m mostly a Bon Scott era fan too, but to my ears there are also some pretty damn great Johnson led albums up until The Razor´s Edge. After that it´s been more standard quality from them, but that´s still pretty good IMO.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I love Bon Scott era AC/DC but Brian Johnson era just doesn't do it for me. There are a few songs here and there but i find their albums incredibly boring.