Hell Yeah!

Hell Yeah! is the fifth album, pushing catchy choruses, thick guitar riffs and a cheerful rock 'n' roll feel to the front. Fully twenty-three years after the 1988 record, it appeared on Frontiers in 2011. Tommy Thayer is absent, having already become Kiss's guitarist, but Jaime St. James, Patrick Young and Pete Holmes are all still here. The Japanese edition came out on 20 April, ahead of Europe and the US. The reunion had actually begun back in 2003. While keeping the flash of their old glam/hard rock, the playing has the steadiness only a band with years behind it can bring. Even on the lighter numbers the riffs have a solid core, and the choruses are big enough to share with an audience. From the opener “Monkey” through “Target,” “Hail Hail,” “Fools Bleed,” “Falling Down,” the title track and “I Smell a Rat” to the close, fifteen songs — with playful short pieces slipped in — never let attention drift. After more than two decades away, what's most pleasing is how completely unforced the sound is. Not just nostalgia: a record to enjoy as present-tense hard rock.