POWER UP

POWER UP, stylized as PWRϟUP, marks the seventeenth studio album of original songs since the 2014 release of Rock or Bust and the first release after the death of the band’s co-founder and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young in 2017.

This album was recorded over a six-week period between August and September 2018 and then given the final touches in early 2019, at Warehouse Studios in Vancouver with producer and frequent collaborator Brendan O'Brien, that also worked on the band’s 2008’s album Black Ice and 2014’s Rock Or Bust.

On October 7, 2020, the first single from the album, “Shot in the Dark,” was released, followed by the first track on the album, “Realize”, released on November 12, 2020.

Although it was rumored that Malcolm’s guitar riffs would be included in almost every track, his brother Angus Young, revealed the contrary in an interview with Spain’s Rock FM radio, stating:

I know a lot of people have been saying, did Malcolm actually play, is it his instrument on the new album? I chose not to do that because I felt Malcolm himself wouldn’t like me trying to splice his guitar work.

Malcolm and myself, a lot of what we had done through the years, we’d make notes with the tracks. Some might be a little bit rough here and there, and I polished them up. In other cases, Malcolm might have done just a small bit and then I would do the next verse. The bulk of the contribution of Mal is mainly musical.

This album also pays tribute to the late Malcolm Young, and in an interview with USA Today, Malcolm’s brother Angus Young stated:

I think he would be proud of the job we’ve done for him, even the title we give it, ‘Power Up’, pretty much sums him up, too. When he put on that guitar, he was one big guitar. To put it this way: When he played guitar, it sounded like there were two people playing.

This record is pretty much a dedication to Malcolm, my brother. It’s a tribute for him like Back in Black was a tribute to Bon Scott.