Treat - The Wild Card
(Frontiers Music SRL - 2025)
(Genre: Melodic Rock)
Swedish melodic rock outfit, Treat release their tenth studio album ‘The Wild Card’ via Frontiers Music. The band’s lineage goes back to the 1980’s and their sound still firmly resides in that decade. Let’s see if Robert Ernlund (Vocals) Anders Wikstrom (Guitars/Vocals) Jamie Borger (Drums) Patrick Appelgren (Keyboards /Vocals) and Nalle Pahlsson (Bass/Vocals) have provided a treat with this new album.
The album starts with a bang with ‘Out With A Bang’. It’s Whitesnake style is full of 1987 rhythm and swagger, providing good, catchy hooks throughout. ‘Rodeo’ keeps the strong start flowing with more solid rhythm and melody on offer. Next is ‘1985’ and as the Title would suggest it is a love letter to the 80’s. It is a bit too cheesy for me but does still showcase the bands talent, as well as having an annoyingly catchy charm.
The melody and rhythm work shines again on the mid-tempo ‘Endeavour’, which provides another singalong chorus and bridge. ‘Hand on Heart’ has a punchy riff and rhythm work, giving the track more heft. Appelgren adds some nice splashes of colour on keyboards.
‘Heaven’s Waiting’ is a ballad that once again allows the band to shine musically. Track 7 is ‘Back to the Future’ and is my least favourite on the album so far, although still a fine listen. The main riff and accompanying keyboard work cuts like a knife on ‘Mad Honey’. Borger’s drum work gives the song real power and Wikstrom really shows his full guitar chops. It might be my favourite track on the album.
‘Adam & Evil’ is a decent track where the catchy melody drives the song. More good guitar and drum work from Wikstrom and Borger are the highlight of ‘Your Majesty’. ‘Night Brigade’ is a serviceable track as the album falls into the trap of being 2 or 3 songs too long. ‘In the Blink of an Eye’ is similar fodder. It has plenty of catchy melody and solid drumming but is under par compared to other songs on this album.
Pleasingly ‘One Minute to Breathe’ allows the album to close with one of the strongest tracks on offer. It encapsulates the best aspects of what Treat have produced on this release. To summarise these stalwart Swedes of the melodic rock scene have produced an album that existing fans of the band and the genre will certainly enjoy. It is solid overall but would be better if some of the fat was trimmed off making it a 10 song album perhaps
As for the highlights, ‘Out With a Bang’ ‘Hand on Heart’ ‘Mad Honey and ‘One Minute to Breathe’ are my favourite’s here. ‘The Wild Card’ also has some great artwork, as the Joker-Esque jester adorning the cover suggests mysterious trickery is afoot.
I will leave it up to you to decide if this album is indeed a trick or a ‘Treat’!
By Carl Mace