RATT: First Five Albums Remastered For 'Original Album Series' Box Set

RATT's first five albums — 1984's "Out of the Cellar", 1985's "Invasion of Your Privacy", 1986's "Dancing "Undercover", 1988's "Reach For the Sky" and 1990's "Detonator" — have just been reissued in the U,K, through Warner Bros. under the "Original Album Series."

A description reads: "The five-CD box set contains a quintet of albums packaged in cardboard mini LP sleeves and housed in a slipcase. This collection of RATT's first five albums covers the years from 1984 to 1990 that saw them have significant commercial success. Tracks such as 'Round And Round', 'Wanted Man' and 'Lay It Down' helped define the glam metal genre, while their later output such as 'Way Cool Jr.' and 'I Want a Woman' featured heavily on MTV. Originally hailing from San Diego California, RATT were a key figure in the formation of the '80s Los Angeles hard rock and glam metal scene."

RATT has tapped Brian Howes, who has previously worked with HINDER, DAUGHTRY and PUDDLE OF MUDD, helm its new album, tentatively due before the end of the year via Roadrunner Records. RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer recently stated about Howes: "Brian is a great guy, great producer, and he's top notch, dude. He's a current A-lister, and we're very excited."

Regarding the songwriting process for the new RATT album, Blotzer said: " Everybody's been writing and everybody has a backlog of material. So we'll just get in like we did with the last record, and there's, like, boom, 35 songs, and then we'll let the producer go, 'OK, let's work these up.' He's got the final say on that. I mean, the last record we worked up in two weeks."

He continued: "I don't think [the new RATT CD is] gonna be super overproduced. I think we're trying to do something new, and really, on all levels of RATT — have everything come out and be a new RATT. [We'll still have] classic-sounding songs, but it's gonna be, obviously, a twist in the production with the way that [Brian] produces."

Original RATT bassist Juan Croucier rejoined the Californian rockers for their show at the M3 Rock Festival on May 12, 2012 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

RATT's first studio record in 11 years, "Infestation", sold around 14,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 30 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was issued on April 20, 2010 via Loud & Proud.

"Infestation" has sold more than 50,000 copies in the U.S. so far, according to Nielsen SoundScan.