Treatment
Sagacity

Finnish band Treatment or TreaTmenT as they stylise their name, comes up with an album called Sagacity. It is their second album, the first one on a label as the 2015 debut was released independently. The story begins much earlier than that though, back in 2005 and under a different name with different line-up, the name and line-up changed a bit and in the early days of the previous decade Treatment took to their current name, they have changed personnel a bit since then but eventually some albums have come out. This one looks quite dramatic from the cover and the playing time of near an hour is also quite dramatic, but what about the album?

Progressive thrash metal, might be one description. They have groove, quite progressive stuff and some quite melodic additions. The vocals are good, sometimes a bit doomy or gothic. You might think that the production is a bit sub-par, I don’t think that it is great but not terrible either, an area of improvement. The playing time is another weakness, they don’t quite pull of the variation required to sell one hour to the listener, the variation is pretty good though, but it would have needed more dynamics. Cutting ten minutes or there about would have given a lot to the album. Still, it is an album that feels refreshingly fresh and unpredictable, so the little niggles can be easily overlooked as albums of this variety isn’t very common.

This is great, I like the small progressive touches where smaller elements great a great feel for the song. The album showcases a band with fresh idea and independence of thought, that is a thing not very common in the metal genre, or in the world of music in general. A creative band, it isn’t often I write that, especially in a non-ironic sense. Sure, there are things that can be improved, like the sound that I don’t think is top notch and they need to refine the selection process as there is room to cut away more than they have done. Nevertheless, I think that this is a really enjoyable album despite the aforementioned flaws.

If you want to listen to something that isn’t just more of the same, I think that you should have a look at this one. A thrashy and progressive album that is actually progressive and thinks outside the box. Well worth looking into an enjoying. Imagine if they address the remarks I have and put that into a sequel with excellent production and a more intense and dynamic tracklist, that would be something to remember. Until then, it is well worth enjoying this one.

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