How many bands can you think of with a flawless discography? Take a minute and think, if you must. Even the mightiest giants have stumbled from time to time, and understandably so. You can’t always be at the top…well, that is unless you’re Treat. Although they never ascended to the household name status of acts like Journey, Foreigner, and Survivor, they’re a band who, for 40 years running, can’t miss if they tried. Their 21st century reunion output has been every bit of thrilling and memorable as their original ’80s run, and the hot streak continues with their latest effort, The Wild Card.
Much like 2022’s The Endgame, The Wild Card fuses Treat’s signature brand of hard rock riffage and pop rock hooks with that modern Eclipse-esque production that so many in the AOR field, young and old, have come to embrace as the norm. While I generally prefer older acts to boast an older sound (i.e. Whitesnake ’87 production supremacy), Treat certainly make this “new school meets old school” approach work, coming off at times like an AOR counterpart to traditional metal acts like Judas Priest or Accept, who have also seen late career resurgences thanks to this method.
“Alright Joe, now that we know this album meets your persnickety production standards, what about the songs?” What about the songs? They rule! I mean, with the exception of a couple towards the back half that are a tad too sugary for my consumption (after all, I am diabetic), The Wild Card is rife with arena rock anthems, melodic metal headbangers, and nonstop feelgood Scandi-AOR vibes all around. The opening “Out with a Bang” sounds as much classic ’80s arena rock as it does 21st century pop, and I mean this in the most complimentary way possible. An unforgettable hook defies the constraints of time, and Treat prove this with one era-warping banger after the next.
On the heavier side of The Wild Card, cuts like “Rodeo”, “Hand on Heart”, and “One Minute to Breathe” convey the pomp and circumstance of fellow euro melodic gods, Pretty Maids. Even here, the guitarwork never reaches past John Sykes-era Whitesnake levels of intensity, so if you’re an AOR purist who yearns to go through one new Frontiers album without a single attempt at bombastic power metal, look no further than The Wild Card. As fresh as the album sounds from top to bottom, also Treat manages to throw in some token nostalgia, both musically and lyrically speaking (“1985”, “Back to the Future”). There’s even a damn convincing spin on Zeppelin-core that hits harder than anything Greta van Fleet has dropped this decade (“Mad Honey”). In other words, The Wild Card has it all.
What’s most wild about The Wild Card is that over 40 years since they first formed, Treat remains a force to be reckoned with. What is their secret? Have they found the musical fountain of youth? Perhaps they’ve tapped into that little bit of ABBA that flows through the veins of every Swede? Whatever the case may be, we hope to nail one of the members down for an interrogation sooner than later. Until then, I encourage you all to unleash your inner wild side and crank up The Wild Card at maximum volume.
8 out of 10
Label: Frontiers Records
Genre: AOR
For fans of: Eclipse, Pretty Maids, Whitesnake
TREAT is defo a band I would call “Joe metal” hahaha. I’ll check this out.