Ratt – Infestation

Image courtesy of Roadrunner Records

1. Eat Me Up Alive – 4:13
2. Best Of Me – 4:19
3. A Little Too Much – 4:05
4. Look Out Below – 3:44
5. Last Call – 3:55
6. Lost Weekend – 3:46
7. As Good As It Gets – 4:38
8. Garden Of Eden – 3:03
9. Take A Big Bite – 2:46
10. Take Me Home – 4:23
11. Don’t Let Go – 3:22

*stands up*

Hi all, my name is Jester, and I have been fan of Ratt’s efforts during the years of around 83- 86 and I am glad to be here with you. I still have on constant rotation, Out of the Cellar and Invasion of your Privacy. (I replaced my tapes with CD’s, booyah!)

*sits down*

Screw you for judging me, it’s time to change gears and add some other metal to this review section.

Man, when I think of classic cock rock, Ratt would be one of the first bands that come to mind. Edgy and hard enough and little makeup made them a more manly (to me) then say White Lion, L.A Guns, London, Faster Pussycat, Britny Fox, Cinderella and their ilk from in and around that same era. (I know, pretty big gap). But still, Ratt is one of them bands you could dig a chick peeling her clothes off too while spinning around a brass pole.

When Dancing Undercover hit the record shelves, CD’s were a new thing…yeah…man, that will make you feel fuckin old…then again…I had 8 tracks of Kiss Destroyer and Black Sabbath as well…..I GOT THEM AT A GARAGE SALE, FUCK YOU! Anyways, I couldn’t fork out the 40 bucks for a CD so I got a tape…..and yeah, that was basically the last time I bought an album from Ratt. Ratt went WAY to commercial for my tastes…DANCE DANCE DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCE……..ugh, listening to it now, it is kind of catchy, but still, I was already now getting deeper into the heavier stuff and couldn’t stomach it. Granted, not one ballad on the album and it had elements (albeit small) that pointed towards influence of that bay area thrash…..did I just say that? Yeah…shit….but it was lackluster…..Body Talk? GAH! I found through the following decade, Ratt tried hard to get back to the Invasion days, but just couldn’t pull it off, I found Pearcy’s solo work like Arcade to be pretty solid, even though I couldn’t listen to it for any length of time. So when I saw Infestation coming out this year, I was sort of interested, and some what excited, maybe because I had recently replaced my tapes and thought, hell, it can’t be all that bad!

Infestation is a definite throwback to the days of yore, and it’s most welcomed. Guitars are tuned down a bit to make it a bit harder sounding (Nickleback much?), but it carries that great hard edge of Out of the Cellar and Invasion of your Privacy with a twinge of southern sound along the lines of say Great White. Even without Crosby (RIP), It almost sounds like Ratt never missed a beat over the years. The opening track Eat Me Up Alive is akin to You’re in Love, but still, the remainder of the album remains a pretty solid release. I can see a lot of guys and gals who love that bar/party rock sound and fully loving this release, the only track that seems to be commercial, is The Best of Me. This album will defiantly wet your pallet if you’re looking form some old school sounding hard rock, will it remain in my rotation? Ratt has done a good job of putting something decent after all these years, in my opinion, of rather disappointing efforts.

Now that I have completed my review, I am going to be removing it form my Zune, and I am sure the CD will sit nicely beside Cellar and Invasion, I may or may not revisit it.

3/5

~Jester

Discuss this album below, or head over to WMA.