The Ratchets – First Light

Pirates Press Records

 

The Garden State Rockers are taking over... again! Because 12 years after their full-length debut “Glory Bound” –Pirates Press Records’ first ever release on LP – the boys from Asbury Park are back with sophomore album “First Light”, a rollercoaster of punk, rock and roll.

 

Taking a while to sink in, The Ratchets’ mid-tempo sound is calm and easy to the eardrums, especially compared to my usual playlist of Oi!, black metal and kids music (for my two year old son). Therefor it took “First Light” a while to sink in, but once the penny dropped – I was sold!

 

The Ratchets’ punk rock – with the accent on rock – is stuffed with great hooks and excellent melodies. Songs like “Gotta Be Cool”, “2-4-6-8 Motorway”, “Dotard At The Dial”, “Stray Emotions”, “Jammyland”, but especially “Bad Vibes”, easily stick with you for the rest of the day, making it a real catchy album altogether! Sure, it’s not the kind of album that usually gets reviewed on this page, but I am sure there are some fans of The Clash or late 80’s/early 90’s Social Distortion on here who would appreciate “First Light”, I know I do!

 

Aside from the new album, Pirates Press Records also (re-)released the band’s first LP “Glory Bound”, the “Heart Of Town” mini-CD (for the first time on vinyl) and 13 “Odds & Ends”, compiling all of The Ratchets’ singles, EP’s and other oddities on one LP. All four released together as an “Essentials” boxset, this will be the only way to get the album on black vinyl, while the regular press of 400 copies is on beautiful yellow vinyl with Halloween orange and hot pink twists – very nice!