The Rat that caught the Cat: Toilet Rats New Album is the Triumph We Need Right Now
Reviewed by: Roman Constantino, writer @romanleeroth
Edited by: Andrew Perrizo, owner/editor @melodicnoisemedia
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Black Cats was released on June 26, art by Matt Traxler and photography by Joe Vaughan
Coming off the back of a series of single releases throughout 2026, June saw Tommy Ratz finally unearthing the complete collection of the latest Toilet Rats music that is known as Black Cats. According to the band’s Bandcamp, it was fortuitously discovered in the back of Ratz’ long-crashed Volvo by a suspiciously Ratz-reminiscent salvage worker. And it’s a good thing that it was finally found. This is a record that dance punks need to hear.
Ratz returns with the signature sound that has been described as “scuzzpop” by one of the band’s many internet sewer-lurkers. Picture The Drums and The Garden making intense love and birthing uniquely poppy offspring with an attitude problem. The kind of offspring you want to know when things get real and you need to dance it out. This album, despite being made up of originally sporadically released singles, presents as a cohesive collection of songs that flirts with the tongue-in-cheek realm of camp, yet finds its angry yet triumphant voice before leaving with an unserious flourish that the listener grows accustomed to throughout. Black Cats challenges you to think while you dance. Despite its occasional nihilistic leanings with tunes like “Utopia” and “Asteroid,” the album ultimately leaves the listener grateful to be alive and in the supportive company of fellow scuzzpop punks.
The album’s opener, “Darkness,” sets the attitude immediately that the listener is in for a dark triumph. “Bloodsuckers,” the first previously unreleased track on the album, fits snugly between the celebration of “Darkness” and the following two horror-themed tunes. “I Was A Teenage Exorcist! (Feat. Inga Roberts) harkens back to the instrumentation of The Sonics and the old-school kitsch of The Cramps. “Crystal Lake (I Don’t Wanna Go To)” blisters by quickly like a sweaty Halloween basement party. From this point, with the listener firmly warmed up in body, Ratz deems it the right time to engage the collective mind and spirit.
“Heart Emoji MPLS” could bring a tear to any community-minded individual, and serves as an anthem of mass organization that only Minneapolis could provide. A 1980s hair-flavored piece of pop-bliss cruises along with a conviction and steadiness that laughs in the face of any fascistic authority that dares confront it. No message is hidden in this track, simply because a collective mind doesn’t have to veil its meaning. “Come hell or high water, we’ve got each other.”
The other side of the picket line is discussed in “Military Dad (feat. Atom Goren),” a side on which authority encourages a suppression of individuality. Nobody wants to be forced to get a crew cut every summer. Such a bummer!
“Shimmy” sets the standard once more, urging the intrepid listener to join the party and find their home within. A rhythmically Portamento-reminiscent chorus slides into a disgustingly catchy synth line and lands right back in the center of the party, all to do it all over again. The vocal layering resembles that of late-career Twin Peaks. “Crash Out! (Feat. Andrew Cahak & Daryk Narum) is a playful tune that pokes fun at the hypocrisy of human conflict and is capped off with a tasteful soul-patched sax solo by the distinguished Mr. Narum.
The aforementioned nihilism begins to kick in with the following tracks, “Utopia” and “Asteroid.” The former questions reality, citing conspiracies and general unease amid the so-called utopia of today’s age of information. The latter is an interstellar evocation, calling for a dinosaur-sized asteroid to clean the earthen slate once more. Once urgency is introduced with “Nuclear Reaction Meltdown,” however, a lighter sentiment is reintroduced and cradled within the final three tracks.
“I Wanna Live (Afterall),” despite being a comparatively plain tune instrumentally and energetically, actually provides sonic relief from the intensity of the previous tracks. It sets the mood to wrap up the album in classic Toilet Rats fashion: with the minute and a half dance scorchers about flirting with the monstrous. “Vampirella” and “Wolfie” function as the perfect spooky end to the album. With this characteristically dark yet upbeat conclusion, Toilet Rats remind the listener that the weird, the loud and the triumphant are not only still alive, but they are all roommates in the sonic latrine of Black Cats.
Toilet rats will be performing at the final Punktoberfest on September 26 at Thesis Beer Project and at Cloudland Theater on October 24.
You can listen to Black Cats anywhere you get your daily music intake, whether it’s in real life, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Bandcamp, or town crier and make sure to follow them on Instagram.
