Treat-Coup de grace

Frontiers
2010

Almost every review of this album is going to begin with some numbers. Mainly the fact that this is Treat's first new studio album in 18 years. So that signals comeback or reunion or whatever you want to call it. Treat played a blend of AOR and hard rock that's very fond of melodies and catchy choruses. That's what this kind of music should be and this band does that very well. After an overlong production they get into the thick of the material and they just run with it.
The vocals are great with plenty of range. The guitars are varied enough to be interesting and tight all the way around. The production is nothing short of fantastic as every all the sounds are brought to the surface. What really impressed and even surprised me about this album was that Treat took the sounds of 80's music and blended in a more modern take on it. It's subtle, but they will manage to please fans of 80's music without sounding totally dated. The other thing for this band is that they have gotten heavier and even more direct in their approach. That might broaden their appeal a little as well. So they have managed to keep doing what they did well years ago, but add in some new ideas as well. I went in expecting probably a good album very much embedded in an 80's sound, but Coup de grace went past those expectations on so many levels. I instantly took to this album and see it as a disc that's going to be getting a lot of spins from me in 2010.