 
I first came across Rat Attack a few years ago
when they released their debut EP ‘This
Is Art’, the album was quite brutal sounding
and reminded me of bands such as Gallows and Ghost
Of A Thousand, now a few years on Rat Attack have
gone through a slight line up change and are ready
to take on the world with the release of their
self titled EP which many people are claiming
to be their debut EP which obviously is the case
of the new line up.
The new EP is a solid listen it features 5 track
and runs for just under 18 minutes and is the
kind of EP that leaves you wanting to party like
an animal, trash anything in your sight like the
Tasmanian devil on speed or generally go bonkers
to the fast paced hectic sounds of this talented
four piece.
The EP opens with ‘A Bird In Hand’
and what an opener it is, it takes a good 40 seconds
to get going but as soon as you hear those fast
drum beats with heavy hitting guitar riffs following
it up you just know that mayhem is about to happen
and that is exactly what happens as front man
Mike Hodges comes in with his ferocious vocals
belting out “I’m not good for you!,
I’m not good for you, my darling”
whilst the whole band jam together in such an
fast bouncy way.
‘Facehooked’ opens in a classic way
sounding like an old Spectrum computer game loading
up, now if you don’t remember the days of
the Spectrum then you are missing out as waiting
10minutes for a computer game to load whilst watching
whacky colour grace your computer screen as ear
deafening sounds batter your ears and then finding
out after 10minutes your game had crashed was
the normal back in the 80’s/90’s.
Anyway back to the song it is all about the current
Facebook generation and how people have lost touch
with the real world and life how it used to be
and spend the majority of their time in cyberspace
uploading pictures and posting comments in the
hope of comments and praise, musically the song
is yet another fast paced hard hitting song.
‘Look Back And Laugh’ see’s
the band tone down their sound compared to the
first two track but this time around the song
is instrumentally immense sounding as this big
groovy catchy bassline takes centre stage whilst
Mike Hodges throws his hard hitting vocals around.
If you are a regular viewer on Kerrang or Scuzz
TV then I am sure that you will have seen the
video for ‘Heartbeat’ many times as
it is currently on heavy rotation on both TV channels
and it is the lead single to be taken from this
EP and features special guest Liam Cromby from
We Are The Ocean and my god the song is a big
tub-thumper and is such a pleasure to hear Hodges
and Cromby’s vocals going back and forth
complimenting each other, instrumentally the song
is strong sounding but at times you forget to
fully take in the instrumental work as you are
mesmerised with the epic duel vocals.
The EP closes with ‘Bad Catholic’
a song which see’s Rat Attack go down a
more full on rock route yet when the chorus kicks
in the punk quickly returns to the music of Rat
Attack as they rock out one more time.
It is safe to say that Rat Attack have come a
long way since the release of their debut EP ‘This
Is Art’ as they are now a more mature, confident,
energetic, ballsy four piece than ever before
and they now have the backing of friends in high
places, there are no downsides to the EP apart
from the fact it has left me wanting to hear a
full length Rat Attack album sooner rather than
later.
5/5
Review by Trigger
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