Album review: AC/DC - Rock Or Bust

In a world of uncertainty, one of the few things you can count on is the release every few years of a new AC/DC album that will sound exactly like all of AC/DC’s previous albums.

That’s certainly true of Rock Or Bust, notwithstanding the fact that the LP came together against a difficult background, with rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young departing following a diagnosis of dementia. and drummer Phil Rudd arrested on suspicion of drugs possession and threatening to kill (the charges relating to murder were subsequently dropped).

Neither drama has impinged even slightly on the dynamics of the hard rock kingpins, who still count Malcolm’s younger brother Angus on lead guitar (and school boy attire) and Brian Johnson as rasping frontman. Rather, Rock Or Bust reprises all of AC/DC’s signature attributes: the riffs are crunching and cheerfully without subtly; at 70 Johnson continues to deliver single-entendre lyrics in a bluesy mewl.