AC/DC Release Shot In The Dark

Some good news at last. Just as the sun has come back up after a cold night of darkness, so AC/DC - THE 'DC! - have returned with another monumental single in the shape of 'Shot In The Dark'. Just like that star which warms us all, The 'DC are a unique source of power that one day will inevitably go out for the last time. I suppose it won't kill us all but it'll feel like it, and it would be a mercy if it did, for the universe will then be a cold and unrockin' place to be, and, as we know, hell ain't a bad place to be, so take your choice.

'Shot In The Dark' is the kind of title you'd half expect the band to have used before, and even if they had, it would still be welcome. How does the chorus go? "A Shot In The Dark, beats a walk in the park" Not only does it rhyme but you also know it pertains to far from simple horseplay involving a stroll with Rover in the municipal. The whole thing kicks off with a blisteringly simple but devastatingly effective Angus riff. The truly and irredeemably dense amongst us might wonder why no one has come up with it before. They did not and they could not because they are not The 'DC! And bow your head and take a knee when you mention their holy name!

Once Phil Rudd comes in behind the kit, alongside the bass of Cliff Williams which doth throb like the trouser snake of Hercules himself, the alchemy is complete. No one can replace the mighty Malcolm Young, the man with the right hand of God who now surely sits at the right hand of God, but Stevie Young has the right pedigree given the rock n' roll blood that flows in his veins. Brian Johnston screams out Nobel-worthy poetry along the lines of "you got the right position to heat a transmission" and then, as the guitar revs up, he declares that "my mission is to hit ignition."

Johnston steps aside and Angus Young steps forward.

Young may be small of stature but he is a colossus of the guitar, a giant who is plugged into some other dimension where the guitar riffs live. The solo is, of course, everything we got hope for, and more than we deserve. Concise and to the point, the way it should be, for lo, The 'DC are the greatest. This is a declaration of fact, not an invitation to an argument, although I will surely take you outside and kick the indie snot right out of you if you should even think about disagreeing.

There is, of course, an album to follow, for The 'DC are a river to their people. Power Up drops on November 13 and, yes, I can use the word 'drops' here - although it should never, ever be used for any other record, ever again, until the next 'DC one - for it will doubtless hit like an anvil, let slip from the forge of Olympus. Let us rock. We salute them.

Pre-order POWER UP here.