This band has been around for a quite a while now. Formed in Cambridge, Great Britain back in 2008, they quickly made a name for themselves as a kick-ass live band. The band’s hybrid of classic rock, sleaze and straight forward hard rock got them some raving reviews and the reviews of their debut album This Might Hurt (2011) talked about a band that stood a big chance of being the next big thing from England. The band toured the album as openers for acts such as Steel Panther, Thin Lizzy and Alice Cooper and when in 2012, the guys ended up as openers on the Mötley Crüe / Kiss tour and a tour with Slash in Japan, many thought that the breakthrough was just around the corner. But even though they had managed to spread the word around the globe, said breakthrough was a no-show. Instead the guys – guitarists Tagore Grey and Fabian Dammers, vocalist Matt Jones, bassist Rick Newman and drummer Dhani Mansworth – entered the studio and in 2014, they released the follow-up Running With The Dogs. But despite some really good reviews, the album failed to take the band to the next level and in 2015 Matt and Fabian put in their resignation from the band. The guys wasted no time in finding members – calling it quits wasn’t even on the map, apparently and just a few months later they announced the new guys – guitarist Tao Grey and singer Mitchell Emms. A successful tour supporting W.A.S.P. in September was made to test the waters and after that the guys took their time to write new music and to record a new record, a record you now can hold in your hands. I admit that I have heard very little by this band before I listened to their new record despite the fact that they have been quite some coverage in the rock press, especially in mags such as the great Classic Rock Magazine. So this is the chance for me to see what they’re all about.
The opening track “Let It Begin” bodes very well. It comes with a sound that could easiest be described as a sleazier AC/DC, raw and rough with a kick-ass groove and a really striking melody. “The Devil” takes us back to the grinding sleaze of 1991, a dirty pearl of a song with a really catchy melody that sticks like glue. “Tell Us The Truth” is a fast rocker and even though it’s an ok song, it doesn’t really do it for me and I can’t remember a thing from the song once it’s finished. Same with the title track – it’s pretty good while listening, but unfortunately way too forgettable. “Backseat Heartbeat”, however, is brilliant. It’s an extremely catchy half-ballad with acoustic guitars and a big pop feel. This type of song was all over MTV in the early 90’s and should be so still – if there was a MTV to talk about. But “Cry Tough” takes us down-hill again. It’s a standard rocker that I have heard a million times before and I have to really focus to keep the interest throughout the song. “We Are Beautiful” really do kick some major ass, it’s filled with attitude and adrenaline, but for some reason, it just doesn’t work for me. The song lacks IT!, that special thing that grabs a hold and refuses to let go. “I Know She Knows” comes with a dirty groove and rocks pretty well, but the song itself just doesn’t make that much of a fuss and it passes me by unnoticed. “Bloodsucker” on the other hand is brilliant. It’s a bad-ass rocker with a hard punch and some aggression to go with it. But even though it’s really in your face, it still have a lot of catchiness to it. An album full of songs like this and the 10/10 would be home safe. But best of all is “Better Think Again”, a heavy, slower kind of groove monster with the beat you’d love to catch in a club. If this was the first thing you heard from the album, you’d probably buy the album on the spot – unheard. “Light The Sun” closes the album and it does that with the glory. It’s a very direct rocker where sleaze meets melodic rock, where attitude meets catchiness – it’s the kind of song that makes you forget about the mediocre moments on the record and it sure made me want to play the record all over again.
This is a record that shows a hell of a lot of potential and if they would have put it out as a mini-album with the six great songs on it, this could have been a record that would have shown up on the Album Of The Year award at the end of the year. But unfortunately, it’s not and with too many songs that goes in to the “mediocre” category, I’m underwhelmed – and a bit disappointed to tell the truth. With everything I have read about this band, I had expected much more of this record. No songs are actually bad, but too many are fillers and when you consider the fact that this band plays a kind of rock that craves identity and they really don’t have much of that, nor even on the great songs, a whole lot falls flat. That said, I can hear that they’re a tight unit and they do have a singer in Emms that have a really cool voice with the raspiness that I find really cool and a broad range. And the fact that a one of the band members wears a Boston Bruins t-shirt (my favorite NHL team) – it’s not very often you see a British guy wearing anything related to ice-hockey – makes me want to praise this band, but as much as I’m a hockey nerd, I can’t. I would love to see The Treatment play live because I have a feeling the stage is their right element but as for this record, it’s way too uneven. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the next album, though.
5/10
Tracklist:
1. Let It Begin
2. The Devil
3. Tell Us The Truth
4. Generation Me
5. Backseat Heartbeat
6. Cry Tough
7. We Are Beautiful
8. I Know She Knows
9. Bloodsucker
10. Better Think Again
11. Light The Sun
CD & Festival reviews 