Saturday was a good day. Among other enjoyable things, mrs tsuken and I went to Utopia Records in central Sydney. There I got a sweet Iron Maiden tshirt (Number of the Beast) which greatly interests Miss 5, and she now recognises Eddie. \m/

I also picked up the new(ish) Ratt album: Infestation. I had heard good things about it, but wasn’t prepared for just how great it is. The first thing that struck me was that they haven’t got grungey or nü-metally at all. This is great old-school Ratt-style hair metal. It sits perfectly with Detonator, which is one of my favourite hair metal albums ever (and therefore of course one of my favourite albums of any style. 8)

Herewith my impressions track by track…

Eat Me Up Alive: excellent opener. Classic Ratt riff to begin – though with a grittier, more organic guitar tone. Catchy chorus, excellent guitar work. Classic Ratt (welcome back).

Best of Me: fantastic. Starts with a riff that could sit on Invasion of Your Privacy. Has some neat chords in the verse, and a perfect prechorus: catchy, great backing vocals, cool arpeggiated guitar. The chorus is fantastic and very catchy – reminiscent of Run Around, to my ears. The solo is much, much win – but basically every bit of lead playing on the album is awesome. I haven’t picked out what’s Warren DeMartini and what’s Carlos Cavazo, but they’re both plying brilliantly.

A Little Too Much: again it could be on Detonator. The verse chords are the sort of slightly twisted harmony (as compared to most hair metal at any rate) Ratt often did. The chorus is fantastic: catchy, excellent backing vocals. I’m guessing the solo is Cavazo (he was in Quiet Riot, right? So played the solo on Cum On Feel the Noize?)

Look Out Below: dirty swing – nicely finding the tension between straight and swung. I don’t find it as catchy or immediately appealing as the last three, but it’s much cool. At the end I notice that DeMartini and Cavazo might be separated left and right – even the lead parts.

Last Call – very cool guitar riffs under the vocals. Great backing vocals. Neat bluesy/boogie interludes before the choruses – which again make excellent use of a call-refrain with the backing vocals. Cool harmony guitar solo – and at this point I’m thinking Warren’s on the right.

Lost Weekend: yep, I reckon Warren’s on the right, with a great intro lead. This song brings in some harder elements in the chorus, mixed with classic Ratt throughout. Great bridge!! Oh that’s excellent. The solo is totally choice of course.

As Good as it Gets: slightly odd intro/chorus riff, with a recurring chromatic note that’s slightly jarring in fairly typical Ratt fashion. The chorus doesn’t really grab me, but it’s still cool. More harmony guitars and cool soloing.

Garden of Eden: this doesn’t really sound like classic … oh … now the vocals have come in, and it does. The chorus (and much of the rest of the song – except he prechorus) sounds more hard rock than hair metal. The solo I would think was Cavazo, but sounded slightly to the right until it got panned hard left at the end. 1. That does me think I’m right about Warren being on the right. 2. I’m guessing my earbuds aren’t in that well, so I’ve been hearing centre slightly right.

Take a Big Bite: another medium tempo Ratt rocker with call-refrain between lead and backing vocals. And more great harmony (and traded) lead playing.

Take Me Home: ballad time! The chorus is reminding me of someone else, but I can’t think who. To be honest I find the ascending movement in the chords in the chorus a bit jarring. ah – that’s more Ratt (the bridge). Lovely solo – I’m picking DeMartini. Hmmm – now there’s soloing on the left over the chorus. Whatever; I don’t know Cavazo’s playing hardly at all anyway. I’m just going to listen and enjoy now

Don’t Let Go: an up-tempo rocke to close out the album. Pretty much classic Ratt, but with noticeably heavier guitar styling in the prechorus. They’re still sticking closely to classic pop/rock song structures, with catchy prechoruses and bridges – which I love.