Waiting For Good Luck
The Treatment
•
June 30, 2021
THE TREATMENT is a leather-wearing, whiskey-drinking and attitude-slinging Hard Rock group from Cambridge, England. "Waiting For Good Luck" is their fifth record, which was released on the Italian record label Frontiers Records on April 9, 2021. The Classic Rock vibes are so strong on this album that one would think that they were listening to an AC/DC record that was made by the band's '70s lineup, if they had been shoved into a time machine and dropped into a recording studio in 2021.
There's just one problem with that aspect of the album, however: we already got an AC/DC record this year, and no one does AC/DC better than AC/DC. Honestly, though, you could take any '70s or '80s Hard Rock band as an example - GUNS 'N ROSES, WHITESNAKE, AEROSMITH, KISS - and the same thing would apply. No one makes a '70s/'80s Hard Rock album better than the bands that were in their prime in those decades, and it is a fool's errand to even try. In this case, THE TREATMENT certainly are the fools.
The band ticks all of the Hard Rock boxes. Cheesy double entendres about sex ("Hold Fire")? Check. Enough bluesy guitar licks and slow bends for the boomer listeners to think the guitarists play with more feel than STEVE VAI? Check. A simple enough drum beat on each song that even STEVEN ADLER could play along? Check. Through and through, this album is a giant cliché.
For me, the highlights are the riffs. "Take It Or Leave It" is a banger with a catchy hook, and "Lightning In A Bottle" has a funky swagger to it. "Barman", has the feel of a 12-bar blues on steroids, and "Tough Kid" starts off with a solid bassline riff before breaking into the best riff on the record, in my opinion. Front man Tom Rampton's voice is incredibly strong too, showing flashes of Bon Scott, particularly on the first track "Rat Race".
Unfortunately, the fact that this album is a total rip-off of the forefathers of Rock greatly outweighs its strong points. No moment better illustrates this than the solo to the song "Let's Make Money". At first, while I was listening to it, I thought, "Oh, this is kind of cool." Then I realized the melody the guitarists were playing sounded very familiar. In fact, it was nearly the same melody that Mick Jones played during the pre-chorus to "Heroes" by DAVID BOWIE - just in a different key.
If you are stuck in the 70s/80s and haven't listened to a modern band since NIRVANA released "Nevermind," you'll enjoy this record. But my advice to modern rock bands is this: while it is perfectly alright to draw inspiration from Classic Rock bands, that's where it should end - inspiration. I am more than a little disappointed that so many younger rock bands seem to be regressing into nostalgia these days instead of pushing the envelope, and THE TREATMENT is no better.
5 / 10
Mediocre
Songwriting
Musicianship
Memorability
Production
"Waiting For Good Luck" Track-listing:
1. Rat Race
2. Take It Or Leave It
3. Lightning In A Bottle
4. Vampress
5. Eyes On You
6. No Way Home
7. Devil In The Detail
8. Tough Kid
9. Hold Fire
10. Barman
11. Let's Make Money
12. Wrong Way
The Treatment Lineup:
Andy Milburn - Bass
Tagore Grey - Guitar / Backing Vocals
Dhani Mansworth - Drums
Tao Grey - Guitar
Tom Rampton - Vocals
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