AC/DC's "Black Ice" Revealed!

Albert Productions and SonyBMG Australia have announced the worldwide release of "Black Ice," the long awaited new studio album from AC/DC, on October 18.

"Black Ice," the first full-length studio album of all-new material from AC/DC since the release of "Stiff Upper Lip" in 2000, is the band’s debut album for Columbia Records, (New York Based label for SonyBMG) and their 18th for Australia’s Albert Productions.

Track Listing:
1. Rock ’n Roll Train
2. Skies On Fire
3. Big Jack
4. Anything Goes
5. War Machine
6. Smash N Grab
7. Spoilin’ For A Fight
8. Wheels
9. Decibel
10. Stormy May Day
11. She Likes Rock N Roll
12. Money Made
13. Rock N Roll Dream
14. Rocking All The Way
15. Black Ice

Fans of the band will, no doubt, be overjoyed to hear this official news. Especially considering the long wait they've endured since the band released "Stiff Upper Lip" way back at the turn of the century!

Several Australian newspapers and the major wire services covered the breaking news. Samples of which can be seen here, here and here. Entertainment news stalwart, Variety, even suggested that AC/DC might hit #1 with Black Ice.

It's also been officially confirmed that ""Rock 'N' Roll Train," the album's first single, will debut on August 28th and the video will premiere in September," according to AC/DC's MySpace page.

From the looks of things, it seems that Black Ice will be rolled out across the world two days earlier than it will be sold in the United States as Wal-Mart will not be releasing the album until October 20th according to ACDC.com and Wal-Mart's own special AC/DC page.

However, according to Web Wire, Wal-Mart will join with Columbia Records "to launch multiple activities for fans in celebration of the new CD album, including new product features and promotions to come this fall that will bring fans closer to one of history’s greatest rock bands."

Fans may pre-order "Black Ice" through Wal-Mart and AC/DC's own official store beginning today. Reportedly, the album will also be available through Sam's Clubs across the States. You'll have to pay at least $11.88 per CD for this exclusive deal, by the way.

In other news, AC/DC shot the video for "Rock 'N' Roll train on August 15 and a few of the details of that day were printed over at Metal Hammer.

Paul Cashmere of Undercover News also had a short piece on the making of the video which is worth a look, too.

One lucky fan who says he attended the video shoot has even posted a video on YouTube of himself singing the tune to "Rock 'N' Roll Train!" Check it out below...



The singing guy's video apparently inspired another fan to try and transcribe the tune so as to give us all a taste of what the song may sound like on guitar.



Are AC/DC fans a bit excited about Black Ice or what? And what will fans think of the new album's artwork? It's certainly a bit different than anything the band's ever put out before, don't you think? How do the song titles grab you, by the way?

Some of the titles sound quite unusual for AC/DC (Wheels, Stormy May Day, Smash N Grab). However, three of the songs have the words "Rock 'N' Roll" right in the title which obviously reminds us what AC/DC is really about.

So what do you think about Black Ice so far? Are you ready to rock out with AC/DC again? Feel free to leave your comments below.

Keep rockin, Jon

PS> This just in: The fine folks at The Consumerist have posted a very short piece mentioning AC/DC's involvement with Wal-Mart. Read what fans have to say about the deal here.

AC/DC's "Always Low Wages" Tour Starts In Rocktober!

AC/DC is set to hit the road for an 18 month world tour beginning this October according to the managing partner of the Creative Artists Agency, Rob Light.

This news was announced yesterday at the Intl. Assn. of Assembly Managers' conference and trade show in Anaheim, California as reported here in Billboard.

So far, there's no news on exactly where and when the band will play but you should expect they will, at the very least, hit most of the major venues in Europe, N. America and Australia.

The new CD, entitled "Black Ice," will be sold exclusively throughout most of the western world at Wal-Mart stores. That's why I've dubbed this trek around the world as the "Always Low Wages" tour as AC/DC are seemingly unaware of or don't care that Wal-Mart routinely exploits their workers, giving them little or no health care benefits, and often forcing them to work overtime without pay under threat of losing their jobs if they don't comply.

Not only that, but we all know that most of what Wal-Mart sells come straight from Red China and is, of course, manufactured in mostly inhumane sweatshops by peasants who are lucky to earn a dollar a day.

Perhaps most fans won't care where they buy the next AC/DC record but a growing number of voices are very critical of the band's deal with Wal-Mart. And who can blame them when Americans are losing manufacturing jobs in near record numbers to third world countries across the globe?

Hell, we can't even trust China to even sell us food, toys, and other products that are free of poisons or other almost unimaginable toxins. But you bet your sweet ass that wherever a profit is to be made, Wal-Mart and twenty dozen other corporations that aspire to be them, will be right there harvesting every slim dime to be made inside the Great Wall.

Of course, as AC/DC once famously said, "If you're into evil, you're a friend of mine" but who knew they'd mean Wal-Mart?