A few song titles: “Rock ’n’ Roll Train,” “She Likes Rock ’n’ Roll,” “Rock ’n’ Roll Dream,” “Rocking All the Way.”

This can mean only one thing: AC/DC has a new album.

Black Ice, the band’s 15th studio release and first since 2000’s Stiff Upper Lip, is everything you could expect or want from this grizzled rock ’n’ roll institution. They do exactly what they have done throughout the last 35 years—no more, no less. They wear their resistance to change, their refusal to acknowledge any post-1973 musical trend, as a badge of honor. Genocide, war, disease, economic meltdowns—none of it matters; AC/DC is going to write songs about women, fights and, most of all, the power of rock ’n’ roll. No room for deep thinkers here.

Though lead guitarist Angus Young, still clad in his iconic schoolboy uniform at the age of 53, has never been among the most technically sound players, he has a feel for the instrument like no other. His riffs and solos are among the most memorable in rock music. Right out of the gate, on the lead single "Rock ’n’ Roll Train," he shows he hasn't lost a step. He even adds a little variety later—though not too much, remember who we’re talking about here—by playing slide guitar on the Southern rock-tinged “Stormy May Day.”

With 15 songs, there is room to tweak the tried-and-true formula here and there, such as on “Anything Goes,” the poppy, “You Shook Me All Night Long” of this album, and the slower, grooving “Money Made.”

Front man Brian Johnson looks and sounds like he is feeling every day of his 61 years, but he doesn’t exist to look or sound pretty. (None of the five band members do, for that matter; AC/DC runs neck-and-neck with Motorhead for the label of “ugliest rock band in the world.”) He's here to warble about how much his band rocks and deliver thinly-veiled sexual innuendo in his inhuman yowl. Sure, his voice has seen better days, but he’s up to the task and more of a singer here than he has been on the last couple albums.

Young and Johnson attract so much attention that the rest of the band has become a sort of secret weapon over the years. Just as much as the output of the two in the spotlight, it’s the downright danceable rhythms of bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Phil Rudd that have made AC/DC so massively accessible and successful. As co-songwriter, rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young is as indispensable to the band's magic as younger brother Angus. His funk groove on “Skies on Fire” is one of the album’s highlights.

Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Velvet Revolver) takes the production reins and gives the recording a crisp, airy sound, allowing each instrument room to breathe. At low volume, it almost sounds thin. But as the decibel level rises, so too does the power of the music. That’s always been the way to listen to AC/DC: the louder, the better.