BravePicks 2020 - AC/DC's PWRϟUP #15
December 17, 2020, 4 years ago
If there was any year that music was a true saviour, it was 2020. The ultimate diversion, as the world sits in virtual stagnation waiting anxiously for a fix. We will keep it brief here with the COVID commentary. Let’s let the music speak for itself. It is time to unveil our annual BravePicks countdown, where the devout scribes at BraveWords cast their votes at the hits and misses of the year! So who will be our #1? You’ll find out as we count down the BravePick Of 2020 each day in December!
Everybody has an opinion and it’s time for ours! And stay tuned in January for the writers’ individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), What/Who Needs To Stop In 2021? and Metal Predictions For 2021. Sadly no concerts. But all will be showcased come the New Year!
This virus can go to hell! Let’s let the Top 30 releases of 2020 rock your world!
BravePicks 2020
15) AC/DC - PWRϟUP (Columbia/Sony)
Like a gift from the gods in this tumultuous time, a feel good record from the Australian legends was the perfect remedy for the craziness of 2020. AC/DC’s PWRϟUP isn’t out to reinvent the wheel of rock or throw long time listeners out of their comfort zone, this is straight-up, good time rock ‘n’ roll delivered from one of the best that has ever done it.
For their seventeenth full-length album, the band reunited with producer Brendan O’Brien who helmed Black Ice in 2008 and Rock Or Bust in 2014. Charged up for the next decade, AC/DC cut twelve new tracks for the album, proudly maintaining their signature sound and all of its powerful hallmarks.
As “Metal” Tim Henderson laid out in his review: The line-up that matters - minus Angus’ older brother and partner in crime - truly owning it. All the planets were aligned, Brendan O’Brien and longtime studio ally Mike Fraser just icing the thunderous cake. And during tough times of desperation and devastation throughout the world, AC/DC have saved the day. Don’t get me wrong, this ain’t their shining hour. How could it be? But it’s a band to be admired, completely cherished. Blokes you’d die to hang at the pub with, they are so dear and down-to-earth. And the band’s 17th album, PWRϟUP, is a glorious return. “Realize” kicks off the toe-tapping’ riff-fest, AC/DC always finding that groove and rip-roaring chorus lines which the album is chock full with.
BravePicks 2020 Top 30
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15) AC/DC - PWRϟUP (Columbia/Sony)
16) BENEDICTION - Scriptures (Nuclear Blast)
17) KATAKLYSM - Unconquered (Nuclear Blast)
18) BLACKGUARD - Storm (Independent)
19) MEXICAN APE-LORD - Survival Cannibalism (Unable)
20) THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER - Verminous (Metal Blade)
21) ENSIFERUM - Thalassic (Metal Blade)
22) PROTEST THE HERO - Palimpsest (Spinefarm)
23) SODOM - Genesis XIX (Steamhammer)
24) INCANTATION - Sect Of Vile Divinities (Relapse)
25) MIDNIGHT - Rebirth By Blasphemy (Metal Blade)
26) NAGLFAR - Cerecloth (Century Media)
27) RAVEN - Metal City (SPV/Steamhammer)
28) KIRK WINDSTEIN - Dream In Motion (Entertainment One)
29) VANDEN PLAS - The Ghost Xperiment: Illumination (Frontiers)
30) GREEN CARNATION - Leaves of Yesteryear (Season of Mist)
