AC/DC: Rock or Bust

What’s this? AC/DC have eschewed the habits of a lifetime. Now in their dotage, they have written an album replete with strings, orchestration and intro- spective lyrics about alienation and global inequality.

As if. There are few certainties in life, but one certainty is that the latest AC/DC album will sound broadly similar to the last one and all its predecessors. It will have a lot of songs about rocking and rolling. It will be the antithesis of the miserabilist streak which seems to infect modern music.

Rock or Bust is not as good as its predecessor Black Ice but it is better than most Brian Johnson-era AC/DC albums. It is particularly good considering it is missing the real genius behind the AC/DC sound, Malcolm Young, who has retired due to dementia.

Producer Brendan O’Brien has brought a Springsteen-like swing to the record. Fans will be content with more of the same.