LP REVIEW

THE TREAT
"IN TECHNICOLOR"
(Rockular Recordings - RRT01)

They produce a sound very reminiscent of those renaissance days of the late seventies and early eighties when British rock and metal made an unfashionable but determined comeback. It was termed the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) and spawned bands such as Iron Maiden, Def Lepperd, Tygers Of Pan Tang and Saxon to name but the successful, as well as others such as Chainsaw, Praying Mantis, Angelwitch and Wytchfynde who were not. With The Darkness raising hope of another chance for British rock to hold the limelight for a while, speculation is talking of another groundswell from which there will be new losers and winners. Read on and make your own mind up where The Treat will end in such a situation.

Attempting a blend of traditional riff based rock, drenched in melody and with a good measure of tongue-in-cheek; the results are unfortunately very poor. During the seventies, people’s idea of a posh meal was prawn cocktail starters, followed by frying steak and black forest gateaux for afters, all washed down with a bottle of Blue Nun. It’s hard to understand why, as there were much better things available to enjoy, but maybe it was just down to a stagnant environment desperate for new inspiration and poor cultural education. Well, The Treat are that meal - pitiful ingredient giving an awful result - from the corny, cringe worthy lyrics and the mediocre music, to the recycled riffs and imitated styles. All but for a couple of exceptions (“Let’s Get Beautiful” a fair bluesy rock tune mimicking the Black Crows and “24/7” a straight rocker emulating AC/DC), there is nothing here worth listening to and even both of these have those awful lyrics!

As this album ends, there’s the sound of a great whoosh of air and your hair flailing all over the place as it passes you by. It was not as a consequence of head-banging or anything, no it’s the point of this album going straight over your head. Someone said it sounds completely different from anything else in the UK - well thank Christ for that!

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Rigsby  (27th December, 2003)
www.iwillbeheard.co.uk

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