Bob Lefsetz - the American music industry figure and author of the email newsletter and blog, the Lefsetz Letter, has issued the following review of AC/DC's new album, Black Ice, which will be released on October 20th through Columbia Records.

"I'm sitting here at Shutters listening to the new AC/DC album on Steve Barnett's MacBook Air.

To tell you the truth, I usually avoid this. What are you going to say as the label head watches you listen to his baby. But after discussing the Wal-Mart deal at lunch, hearing all about the plans for release, I was eager, the same way you are after school, when you ride your bike to the record store to buy the album the day it comes out.

You rush home, rip off the shrinkwrap, drop the platter on the turntable, lay the needle down and you hear...

ANGUS' GUITAR!

Now this isn't far from the master, THIS IS THE MASTER! And suddenly, my whole body starts to throb, THIS IS THE SOUND!

Oh, Phill Rudd's bass drum. You know that "Back In Black" sound, kicking you in the gut, so powerful, yet so pure!

Every AC/DC album sounds the same. Only the songs are different. "Black Ice" continues the tradition. I could sit here and digest the 55.5 minutes over and over again. But not having all day, I've played the single, "Rock N' Roll Train", a few times, and am now sampling...

I'm gripped by "Smash N' Grab".

This ain't Crocs music. This ain't made for Sephora. This is the sound that drove your parents away, that they didn't only tell you to turn down, BUT THROW OUT!

It's a rough tough tumble world we live in. Where sold-out whores tell us what to like and try to make us believe we're losers. What are we supposed to do?

Listen to AC/DC. Turn it up and nothing else seems to matter. The sound obscures the rest of the world, it's just you, equal to everyone you hate, who's got you down, your dad, your principal, the President...

Wow, you should hear the intro to "Spolin' For A Fight"! This is "Shoot To Thrill"!

Dressed to kill!

The groove to "Decibel"... Like you've just stripped naked and are sauntering to the bed to stick your rod into a woman who's BEYOND FANTASY! Wow, this is too much, PURE SEX!

There's a slide on "Stormy May Day" straight off a sixties English blues record, followed by another guitar in the other ear with a stinging report. There's a FULL MINUTE INTRO!

I don't remember any other AC/DC track sounding like "Rock N' Roll Dream", it's positively SENSITIVE! Kind of like something off "Straight Shooter", the second Bad Company album... Wow, this is my favorite so far, at least until the freight train/explosive chorus. I love the intimacy, like you've stayed up all night drinking after you've been dumped.

This ain't no "Ballbreaker", no "Stiff Upper Lip"... It's like the band believes, it's the best thing they've done in EONS!

How good is it?

WHO GIVES A FUCK! I'm sitting here, with the headphones cranked, listening to NEW AC/DC!

Doesn't matter how many stars the album gets in "Rolling Stone", what the "New York Times" says, never mind Pitchfork or Stereogum. If you're a fan of a band, in this case one of the most legendary in the business, only eclipsed by the Beatles in sales, you're EAGER! It's like Moses, it's like JESUS has come back to Earth... You want to hear what he's got to say!

Maybe AC/DC is the band at the second coming. That's what it sounds like, THUNDER! Drowning out all that's irrelevant. All that matters is the music.

I'm in hog heaven.

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