AIRBOURNE

It's always been impossible to talk about Australian hard rockers AIRBOURNE without bringing up the countrymen whose influence they sport proudly on their sleeves (when they're wearing sleeves, that is). The band's new self-titled album — their sixth full-length, and first in nearly seven years — won't change that, as it's clear from pillar to post here that the group continues to revel in high voltage and dirty deeds. The big question is whether they've finally graduated from being a second-rate AC/DC to becoming a first-rate AIRBOURNE, and while the jury's still out, there are nonetheless several bright spots on the new record that hint at the group achieving their true potential after two decades of runnin' wild.

The album starts with 16 strong minutes that will be familiar to fans who have been paying attention in recent months. Opener "GUTSY", which nods to the title of the band's 2010 sophomore album, "No Guts. No Glory", is a raucous mission statement that might well become AIRBOURNE's equivalent of "Rock And Roll All Nite". Even better is track no. 2, "Alive After Death (Last Plane Out)" , unquestionably one of the best hard rock songs of the year, and quite possibly the group's finest hour (or at least 211 seconds) yet.

The band then throws something of a curveball via "Here She Comes", a song co-written by AOR legend Bryan Adams and famed producer Mutt Lange. Given Lange's resume, the pair up might seem a bit too on the nose — or, better yet, a touch too much — but surprisingly, the song is more in line with the rockier material on Adams' Lange-produced 1991 effort "Waking Up The Neighbours" than anything off of "Highway To Hell". (It also might be the least subtle double entendre since JACKYL's "Down On Me", but that's another conversation.)

From there, "Kid In A Candy Store" tells a bawdy tale of a prostitute named Candy Rose, whose phone number is found scrawled on a bathroom wall. We won't spoil what happens next, but with lyrics that include multiple references to "back door" and "sixty-nine," you can probably fill in the blanks.

After the mile-high ode "Sky High" — the opening seconds of which make you wonder if you've accidentally queued up "Back In Black" — comes a second Adams / Lange collaboration, "Who Put The Rhythm In You?" , which wouldn't sound out of place sandwiched on a playlist between "Moneytalks" and "Are You Ready".

And therein lies the problem, as it's impossible not to continue being reminded of that other Aussie band over the course of the rest of the record. "Last Man Standing" opens with a guitar line that nods to "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)" before segueing into an A-E-B chord progression straight out of "Who Made Who". "Hell's Got No Vacancy" brings to mind "Hell's Not A Bad Place To Be". Even "Christmas Bonus", a song originally released last winter, and an odd inclusion for a record issued at the tail end of summer, makes you think of "Mistress For Christmas" (although in AIRBOURNE's defense, their holiday soundtrack is far less cringeworthy than the other guys').

It's lazy to compare AIRBOURNE to AC/DC just because they're both from Australia. It's fair to compare them, though, when the former continues to sound so damn close to the latter. On one hand, that's a high compliment to AIRBOURNE's songcraft, and to that end, there's a strong case to be made that "Airbourne" is the best AC/DC record since "The Razor's Edge". On the other, the songs that open the record provide a glimpse of what the band could someday be if they chose to tip their cap to their influences rather than blatantly mimicking them. It's clearly in them to make that leap — c'mon guys, get gutsy!