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...they’ve still got it. The amazing thing about “Black Ice” is how well it recapitulates the “AC/DC doctrine” while also pushing the limits—though admittedly, the former happens more. That amazing rhythm section is still there, pulsating through each note and demanding physical compliance from the listener. (I admit I had to actively struggle to keep myself from drawing too much attention in the dining hall as my body grooved of its own volition.) The lead guitar is as wicked as ever, as Angus Young...
...songwriters don’t always follow the rules,” and he said “Good, I’ll go with that.” He is much better musically than lyrically, carrying an acoustic-y vibe throughout despite some funky experimentation in the rhythm section and a foray into reggae (the album’s first single, “Make You Crazy”). When the lyrics are plodding and over-deliberate, a surprise guitar lick or nice chord progression on the piano keeps things from getting too dull. The sound is thoroughly Californian...
This metonymic technique serves Komunyakaa well, allowing him to provide fresh insight into the things that make up war. But it sometimes veers toward a laundry list or a museum description. The second section of the book, which deals with the implements of war, sometimes loses its momentum due to the weight of the nouns that are loaded upon it. Komunyakaa excels at unemotionally describing scenes and letting the reader draw his own associations from the poetry. However, in poems like “The Clay Army,” he doesn’t add anything beyond the basic...
...Komunyakaa is not only interested in the physical objects that make up war. The poems in the first section are as much about love as they are about battle. “For a woman to conceive in this place & time, / she must be in the arms of a warrior riding / down through the bloody ages,” he says in one of his earlier poems. The women in his poems both drive the war and have the mystical power to soothe and heal the wounds of battle. They are both an antidote and a cause...
This particular perspective on the art is especially evident in his third section: one long poem entitled “Autobiography of My Alter Ego.” “Autobiography” tells the story of a man, not unlike Komunyakaa, who has spent time in Vietnam. Unlike Komunyakaa, however, he never moved beyond working at his father’s bar, and the whole poem resembles the unfocused rant of a slightly destabilized veteran. Here, the urgency that was muted throughout the other sections becomes more apparent. Komunyakaa’s alter ego is angry and full...