Three albums in and I still can’t fully get my head around The Treatment, first album ‘This Might Hurt’ (2011) was a sizzling slab of Sleazy Hard Rock and dipped its toes into Airbourne territory, whilst ‘Running With the Dogs’ (2014) dove in and suffered a little from sounding a somewhat derivative (a strength to some I’m sure); now ‘Generation Me’ stylistically keeps that thought but then veers off in a number of directions. It’s a confusing record that sports a new singer and new guitarist, but it does have its moments.
The new blood seems to bring a new start, and in truth new vocalist Mitchel Emms does have a fine voice and belts out ‘Let It Begin’ like he means it despite the song sounding just like AC/DC it does make you relax and wonder if this is going to be the album that changes it all.
Initially the dial doesn’t move: ‘The Devil’ sounds like Airborne, and ‘Tell Us The Truth’ is almost more of the same with a little less bite.
Title track ‘Generation Me’, is where you think it all starts to change somewhat, taking as it does a more melodic take on the standard riff and adding a soaring chorus, it’s more Melodic Metal with a little pop sensibility than anything else. We like it. ‘Backseat Heartbeat’ pushes further almost to Melodic Rock territory with a really catchy (if nonsensical) chorus and showing restraint that appears nowhere else on the album. The pair are probably our two picks of the album and make you wonder about the direction of the band with the two new players
The problem is that there’s always that default, as soon as anything different happens or the band veer off there’s a default setting that takes them back to Airbourne territory. ‘Cry Tough’ has a bit of fire and nice meaty chorus but essentially it’s creeping back to that place of safety (nice song though).
After that though, your opinion of the album will depend on your stance on that ‘default’ sound: ‘We Are Beautiful’, ‘I Know She Knows’ and ‘Bloodsucker’ are all essentially variations on that same theme. To some that will be gold, to others it will mean lost opportunity.
Thankfully the final two tracks are open to new ideas with the hybrid ‘Better Think Again’ a nice modern take on vintage Hard Rock, which despite its laid back nature just has that indefinable something about it to bear repeated listens. ‘Light the Sun’ on the other hand is pure modern Melodic Rock and possibly the catchiest song on here.
This is a difficult one to review mainly because despite The Treatment doing a nice take on the Airbourne thing (and I’m sure lot of fans appreciate that) that is not what draws me to this album at all, and the furthest here they get from that the better they sound.
I’m sure I’ll be in the minority here (though that never will bother me) but listening to this album a dozen times bow – the more melodic route is the way to go and songs like ‘Light the Sun’, ‘Backseat Heartbeat’ and the title track itself seem to offer far more interesting possibilities for the future.
