Swedish Melodic Rock band Treat have recently released their ninth album (their fourth since making a comeback in 2010) and it is as sublime as any fan of the band would want it to be. Part of me did hesitate and wonder whether to write this review instead of perhaps concentrating on something a little more ‘under the radar’, after all, “The Endgame” will receive more than a fair amount of coverage, but I have always been a huge fan of Melodic Rock & AOR and, as I’m a new writer on The Metal Asylum, wanted to show you, the awesome reader, that when it comes to Rock & Metal nothing is off the table as far as I’m concerned!
I’m old enough to remember Treat from the 1980’s and was always a fan. Like many of my age, I found much of the 1990’s a barren time for the music I loved and it was pure delight when many bands decided to make a comeback or re-emerge from the depths. It took Treat until 2010 to do that, but they hit the ground running with the monumental “Coup de Grace” and, since then, it has been all systems go!
“The Endgame” sees the reunited “Coup de Grace” line-up return in full and kicks off with the wonderful ‘Freudian Slip’, an up-tempo monster and, probably, one of the catchiest album openers you are likely to hear this year. I say opener because Treat have the remarkable talent to write ‘catchy’ in their sleep. Fast or slow, nearly every track on this release is nigh on perfect. ‘Sinbiosis’ & ‘Wake Me When It’s Over’ contain choruses and melodies that are so damned good they really should be illegal, the whole of ‘Both Ends Burning’ is superb, ‘My Parade’ & ‘Magic’ are ballads sent from heaven (no sniggering at the back please, I adore a good ‘lighter waving’ ballad) and the wonderfully titled ‘Jesus From Hollywood’ contains some great lyrics and a hook big enough to catch ‘Nessie’. In fact picking out highlights on “The Endgame” is almost impossible.
Every member of the band shines with the Lead Vocals of Robert Ernlund, Guitars of Anders ”Gary” Wikström and Keyboards of Patrick Appelgren, as well as the incredible ‘gang’ backing vocals working together like a fine port & cheese board.
It’s still good but the only track that stops the album from getting a ‘10’ is ‘Carolina Reaper’ which is just a tad formulaic, in an 80’s Def Leppard kind of way. However, that does lead into the slightly darker, but still superb ‘Dark To Light’ and final track ‘To The End Of Love’. This begins as another great track but halfway through introduces a magnificent keyboard cadence, which pretty much stays until the end and gives me goosebumps every time I listen.
“The Endgame” is 55 minutes of sheer ‘Melodic Rock’ beauty and the running time absolutely flies by. I could say that they have delivered an absolute ‘Treat’ of an album but that would be a terrible joke so I won’t…ok, ok, I’ll get my coat!
Track Listing
01. Freudian Slip
02. Rabbit Hole
03. Sinbiosis
04. Home Of The Brave
05. Both Ends Burning
06. My Parade
07. Wake Me When It’s Over
08. Jesus From Hollywood
09. Magic
10. Carolina Reaper
11. Dark To Light
12. To The End Of Love
Band Members
Robert Ernlund – Lead Vocals
Anders ‘Gary’ Wikström – Guitars, Backing Vocals
Jamie Borger – Drums, Percussion
Nalle Påhlsson – Bass, Backing Vocals
Patrick Appelgren – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
This review is purely the property of Richard Tilley and The Metal Asylum