Aussie Rock really has only one problem – AC/DC that hugely popular world beating colossus looms so large over the local Hard Rock scene that you’d turn over a million stones before you’d ever find a band that wouldn’t breathe those initials as an influence. Hell some even make a career of sounding like them.
BLACK ACES has clearly read the rulebook and was there when the memo was circulated and probably even instigated the follow up meeting. But the point I’d like to make is does that make them a bad band? After all there are so many who ride the AC/DC wagon, and even those who make a career out of it (add your own names there). Most miss the fact that Swiss band KROKUS actually sounded like AC/DC before AC/DC existed.
Vocalist Tyler Kinder (wow that’s like my favourite vocalist and chocolate in one) has the inflections and growl of Bon Scott but a higher register that makes you think of a Metal singer belting out the Blues, I thought it was going to be a rather acquired taste but by the end of opener ‘Shot in the Dark’ (actually at the point the great solo hit) I was convinced.
Now when I think of ‘Shot in The Dark’ I (being of a certain age) think of the late eighties band JUNKYARD and there is a little of that band in songs like ‘Girl Like You’ which is essentially ageless Bluesy Hard Rock and the first single. It’s a pretty damned good opening for a local band.
‘Back on the Chain’ is a great song nice and full of pace, and ‘Sick as a Dog’ might drop the gears a little but is just as enjoyable showing all the right moves. It’s all beautifully held together by the rhythm guitar of Jarrod Morrice (formerly of Melbourne’s The Deep End) and the solid backline of Alex and Pete McMillan on bass and drums respectively.
‘I’m Your Nightmare’ has a chunkier dirtier riff and a nice outro but seems a bit like the meat and veg number, whilst ‘Let it Roll’ hits the high notes and ups the excess and sound like would be a sure-fire winner live. ‘Rough Touch’ takes that similar path to excess to great effect.
Groovier, mellower and a good fun take on early AC/DC ‘Burning up the Highway’ wins you over with its insistence more than its originality and ‘(Take it To) The Wire’ seems to echo a song from BACK IN BLACK I particularly like. Let’s face it – it’s not rocket science but it still moves you.
Closing track ‘The Walls’ draws the curtain on the album and it is actually one of the slower darker numbers here and as a set piece to close does the job with more than just a tradesman like passing off the bill and discount for cash…
This isn’t new, isn’t original, but by fuck it rocks! And that my friend is what will save us from growing beards and becoming hipsters. God bless the denim-clad fellows from BLACK ACES and all who sail with them…
