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Sucks getting older because when I got this promo, I thought, "I haven't heard these guys in ages," only to realize I reviewed their last album, Sea Savage, less than three years ago. Maybe it's not just getting older, but getting a lot of music sent my way. Anyway. Last time I loosely said that Gama Bomb do not sound like every other thrash band flooding the genre, and that remains mostly true on Bats. Gama Bomb popped up when playing old-school thrash wasn't yet a trend (for better or worse, depending on what's gracing your playlist) and were kind of "the bomb" (uhuh) at the time. They've always put a slightly modern touch to old-school thrash and they haven't changed that. Few bands actually do that, and this album ends up standing apart from the crowd because of that. It's not just a matter of modernizing a sound, but also it's about doing it right, and Gama Bomb have always managed to achieve that. Bats feels less "party thrash," though that's still in there, and borrows a lot from traditional heavy metal with more laid-back, sing-along songs. The album is quite diverse and whether it's your awful singing, pedestrian air guitar or air drums, or just headbanging senseless, there's just no way you can stand still listening to this fun album. Whatever Gama Bomb are doing, all they have to do is keep doing it.