guitar stalwart returns with , a 13-track set featuring re-recorded versions of and classics. Vocalist and bassist have returned to the fold for this project; they are joined behind the drum kit by newcomer . Together, the combo does a mostly bang-up job with the material. 's guitar lines are leaner and meaner throughout, emulating the newly buff physique of himself. And while 's singing style is that of a journeyman vocalist, he wisely relies on power here, dispensing with the kind of upper-register histrionics favored by that defined -- and subsequently maligned -- 1980s . lifts off with the classic ; it's essentially the same song, only rippling with a new sense of purpose that's palpable throughout the record. It's immediately clear that while and his mates are having fun with this return to their roots, they're also reveling in the spit-shine they've given the material. While an aging copy of or can still be a thrilling ride, hindsight makes the sins of these and other '80s classics more evident. The horn section that pops up on (from 1992's ) probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but it hasn't aged well. 2003 amps up 's riffs and rumbles along on the strength of 's muscular drum fills. is all up, complete with -style chorus vocals. again cuts his original performance to the quick, letting the chords linger. It's almost a maturation of his famous weedly-weedly solos and fills -- where before there were busy trips up and down the fretboard, there are now only well-timed pulloffs that quickly return to low-end mudslinging. For the verses have been slowed to a sludgy half-time groove. Dynamic all-stops aid the chorus' explosion, which has been inserted largely intact from 1987's . The nod to shouldn't be construed as a sellout; indeed, still sounds too much like a cross between to ever be mistaken for a Seattle sound moaner. By tightening up the arrangements and stripping away the bombast, has essentially done to its own past what did to 1980s in general. Retrofitted reminiscence is an easy way to make a buck. But when the wet work is done as well as have done with , one has to overlook the cashing in, and simply rock out. ~ Johnny Loftus