FALL ALBUM ROUNDUP

AC/DC

“Ballbreaker”

Elektra

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AC/DC’s music is about as elemental as rock ‘n’ roll gets. The band has hammered out 15 or so albums using only a fistful of chords, a thoroughly adulterated blues sensibility and an irrepressibly lewd sense of humor. “Ballbreaker,” the group’s first studio effort since 1990’s “The Razor’s Edge,” is no exception. It bristles with the familiar mixture of bump ‘n’ grind rhythms, spry and chunky guitars and Brian Johnson’s snarling vocals.

Liltingly heavy-handed, “The Honey Roll” wallows in its licentious sentiments, as does the perkier “Cover You in Oil.” On a less libidinal, more brooding note, “The Furor” delves into organized crime and vigilante justice, while “Hail Caesar” takes an edgy stab at power and corruption and “Burnin’ Alive” offers a critique of Bill Clinton’s presidential prowess: “He came from a little town called Hope and maybe someday it’ll go up in smoke. . . . And someday maybe, baby, he’ll inhale that smoke!” “Hard as a Rock” is quintessential AC/DC, as gritty and head-bangable as it is hummable.

Most artists live in fear of repeating themselves. AC/DC, like the Ramones, can afford to embrace redundancy. The music remains raucous and vital because the band has stripped it down to its essence--proving that less really is more.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).