The Treatment – Running With the Dogs

.@planetmosh reviews .@TheTreatmentUK

‘Running With the Dogs’ is the second album by The Treatment, released last month on Spinefarm Records. The band themselves are slowly beginning to move through the gears – a Main Stage appearance at Hard Rock hell last year was followed by opening for Airbourne on tour, with a UK headline run also very well received. Not bad for a bunch of guys who are barely older than the average university student…

Their Facebook page says it’s ‘refreshing for a new band to come along who are both happy and proud to be called ‘rock’’. There is a certainly truth in this – in a world where subgenres and sub-subgenres are growing at such a rate that people are actually ordering their CD collections by them, a band which come along and give us a timely reminder that rock is where it all goes back to is definitely needed. Unfortunately, The Treatment aren’t the band to do that on the basis of ‘Running With the Dogs’. It’s most definitely rock – the opening track is aptly titled ‘I Bleed Rock And Roll’ and sounds like Kiss crossed with AC/DC, vocalist Matt Jones especially strong with a good range and a Paul Stanley-esque tone. There’s diversity too with ‘Unchain My World’ providing a nice acoustic element at the end of the album and the band have an abundance of young talent and raw energy, something which really comes across in a live setting where they are at their best.

Sadly, that opening number is the only stand-out track on the entire 13 song record. All too often the songs gather momentum but never properly take off, as is the case with ‘Emergency’ and ‘Get the Party On’ and, quite ironically, the band’s mentality of being simply rock has resulted in a sound that is easily forgotten because it’s such a well-trodden path. There isn’t a huge amount on here that grabs you by the throat and shakes you: it’s all a bit, well, pleasant, shaking your hand and inviting you in for a cup of tea and never keeping your full attention.

It’s a real shame, because the band have buckets of potential and I would strongly recommend you go and see them live because they’re absolutely fantastic in that form of environment. ‘Running With the Dogs’, however, is more ‘Walking With the Puppies’.

Band lineup
Matt Jones – vocals
Jake Pattinson – guitar
Tagore Grey – guitar
‘Swoggle’ – bass
Dhani Mansworth – drums

Track Listing
1. I Bleed Rock and Roll
2. Drop Like a Stone
3. Get the Party On
4. Running With the Dogs
5. The Outlaw
6. Emergency
7. She’s Too Much
8. Cloud Across the Sun
9. Don’t Look Down
10. World On Fire
11. What Is There To Say?
12. Unchain My World
13. Don’t Get Mad Get Even

Links

http://www.facebook.com/TheTreatmentOfficial
http://www.twitter.com/TheTreatmentUK