Collage

by Stephen Thomas ErlewineRatt's comeback album Collage finds the Los Angeles hair-metal band acting as if the '90s were the '80s, meaning that they're just turning out the same three-chord, good-time party rock as before. Surprisingly, the band doesn't sound nearly as tired as they did on Detonator, the last album they recorded before breaking up, performing these entirely predictable songs with some passion. That doesn't make Collage a great record, especially since the group fails to write really memorable hooks, but it is competent and fitfully enjoyable and a perfectly respectable comeback effort.