After nearly seven years without a new studio album, Airbourne are back โ louder, sweatier and apparently still completely allergic to ballads.
The Australian hard-rock wrecking crew have unleashed their sixth studio album, simply titled Airbourne, today through Spinefarm Records. It is a 12-track celebration of massive riffs, filthy grooves, shout-until-your-voice-gives-up choruses and the kind of rock โnโ roll that arrives carrying a crate of beer and leaves through the nearest wall.
And if that was not enough to get the denim-and-leather brigade excited, the record also features songwriting input from two absolute giants: Bryan Adams and legendary producer and songwriter Robert John โMuttโ Lange.
Yes, mun โ Airbourne have brought some serious rock royalty into the engine room.
๐ธ Airbourne Doing What Airbourne Do Best
Nobody puts on an Airbourne album hoping to hear a delicate jazz experiment performed on a triangle. You want guitars cranked into the red, drums that sound like artillery and Joel OโKeeffe roaring as though last orders have just been called during the best night of his life.
That is exactly the territory this self-titled record proudly occupies.
Rather than chasing trends or sanding down their rough edges, Airbourne have doubled down on everything that has made them one of modern hard rockโs most dependable live forces. The spirit of AC/DC, Motรถrhead and the great arena-rock bruisers of the 1970s and โ80s is never far away, but the sheer energy is unmistakably Airbourne.
This is not music designed to sit politely in the background. It wants festival fields, raised fists, overloaded speakers and at least one bloke attempting to play air guitar with a pint still in his hand.
๐ฅ Bryan Adams And Mutt Lange Join The Party
The biggest surprise arrives in the songwriting credits. Bryan Adams and Mutt Lange contributed to โHere She Comesโ and โWho Put The Rhythm In You?โ, bringing some enormous melodic-rock pedigree to the record.
Between them, Adams and Lange have helped shape records including Reckless, Waking Up the Neighbours, AC/DCโs Back in Black and Def Leppardโs Hysteria. In other words, these are people who know their way around a chorus big enough to flatten an arena.
โHere She Comesโ puts that pedigree to work with a huge, festival-ready hook and a guitar solo pushed right to the front. The song was partly inspired by the violent tropical storm that struck while Airbourne were recording at Music Farm Studio near Byron Bay โ although, in time-honoured rock tradition, the finished lyrics turn the idea into a cheeky double entendre.
Subtle? Not especially. Fun? Absolutely.
๐ Vintage Gear, Wild Weather And Proper Rock โNโ Roll Chaos
The making of Airbourne sounds almost as unhinged as one of the bandโs live shows.
The group recorded at Music Farm Studio using vintage analogue equipment, including historic Neve consoles associated with Australiaโs rock heritage and Malcolm Young. They also had to contend with storms, snakes, spiders and temperamental old machinery while committing the record to tape.
Airbourne reunited with producer Brian Howes, who previously worked on Black Dog Barking, and engineer Mike Fraser, whose history with the band includes No Guts. No Glory. and Breakinโ Outta Hell. Zakk Cervini handled the mix, while Ted Jensen mastered the finished album.
That heavyweight team has helped give the record its combination of old-school warmth and modern punch: guitars that bite, drums that land like cannon fire and choruses built to survive at full volume.
๐ฅ Anthems, Road Tales And A Salute To Fallen Heroes
Opening track โGutsyโ sets out the albumโs mission with a defiant message about digging in and refusing to fold. โAlive After Death (Last Plane Out)โ follows with a more emotional idea at its core: the rock legends we have lost remain alive whenever their names and music are carried forward.
Elsewhere, โKid In A Candy Storeโ brings the sleazy, blues-powered swagger, โLast Man Standingโ is primed for fists-in-the-air crowd participation and โBogotรกโ draws on the madness of life on the road.
There is even โChristmas Bonusโ, because apparently Airbourne looked at the festive season and decided it needed more innuendo, more amplifiers and considerably less dignity. Fair play, lads.
The album closes with โSend Me To Rock โNโ Roll Heavenโ, a loud but heartfelt salute to departed icons including Lemmy Kilmister, Bon Scott, John Bonham and other giants who helped build the foundations beneath Airbourneโs boots.
๐ค The Riff Report Take
Airbourne have never been interested in reinventing rock โnโ roll. Their job is to strap a fresh engine onto it, fill the tank, set fire to the instruction manual and launch the thing directly over the crowd.
This self-titled album feels like a declaration of exactly who they are: four musicians committed to riffs, volume, fun and the sacred bond between a hard-rock band and the fans shouting every chorus back at them.
With Bryan Adams and Mutt Lange helping to sharpen two of its biggest hooks, vintage studio gear adding extra grit and seven years of pent-up energy bursting through the speakers, Airbourne sounds built for packed arenas and muddy festival fields alike.
No reinvention. No apology. No ballads. Just rock โnโ roll with its shirt off and a beer can held above its head.
Tidy.
๐ฟ Airbourne Track List
1. Gutsy
2. Alive After Death (Last Plane Out)
3. Here She Comes
4. Kid In A Candy Store
5. Sky High
6. Who Put The Rhythm In You?
7. Christmas Bonus
8. Last Man Standing
9. Rock โNโ Roll Ya
10. Bogotรก
11. Hells Got No Vacancy
12. Send Me To Rock โNโ Roll Heaven
Airbourne is out now through Spinefarm Records.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Zero Apologies. ๐ค๐๐ฅ
