 The production of Black Ice was delayed for several reasons . AC / DC left their label Atlantic Records , signed a deal with Sony Music and changed labels within Sony from Epic Records to Columbia Records . Bass guitarist Cliff Williams suffered an injury to his hand in 2005 and was unable to play for 18 months . While Williams was recovering , the Young brothers perfected the songs they had written . Angus revealed that there was no pressure from Sony for the band to release a new album , as the label was releasing DVDs and remasters of the AC / DC catalogue , and thus the group " could afford to sit back and say we 'll do another album when we think we 've got all the goods . " In a 2004 interview , vocalist Brian Johnson said that Angus had written harder riffs than those on Stiff Upper Lip and that he would be writing song lyrics for the first time since the band 's 1988 album Blow Up Your Video , but his input would end up minimal , with all tracks on Black Ice credited to the Youngs . Johnson explained that the brothers had done most of the lyrical job , and his collaboration was that he " helped with melody and just filling in gaps that I thought needed filling in " . 
