Absolutely essential!

As guitarist and principal song-writer Anders Wikström rightly points out in my interview with him elsewhere this issue, in their thirty year plus history no Treat album has sounded like any other. Their 2010 comeback opus 'Coup De Grace' was widely acknowledged as one of the greatest Melodic Rock albums of all time, so to follow it would be an unenviable task. Yet 'Ghost Of Graceland' is a natural progression from its predecessor as it takes the epic dynamics and more sophisticated contemporary sound of '... Grace' while skilfully infusing it with a look back to Treat's glorious past.

The hugely catchy melodies that the band are famously known for are very much in evidence, though this album is even more about the choruses than ever before – they are simply huge! On the likes of the old-school Party Rock Treat anthems 'Better The Devil You Know' and 'Nonstop Madness' they initially come across as a little too simplistic, yet once they burrow into your sub-consciousness they refuse to let go.

However, it's the little nuances that Treat cleverly know how to incorporate into their arrangements that turn good songs into great songs; a little extra drum-fill here, a keyboard texture there. But one of the best overall effects of 'Ghost...' is the skillful use of a string section to embellish a number of songs, subtle at times, but sweeping to the fore on the simply beautiful, mid-tempo ballad 'Do Your Own Stunts' (if you enjoyed 'We Own The Night' you'll appreciate this too!) and the album's other ballad, the heartfelt piano-dominated 'Together Alone', that sees Wikström taking the lead vocals for the first time in spectacular style.

From the brooding 'Ghost Of Graceland' and 'Alien Earthlings' through the contemporary 'I Don't Miss The Misery', 'House On Fire' and 'Everything To Everyone', the commercial Hard Rock of 'Inferno' and the sheer kick-ass Rock and Roll of 'Endangered' and 'Too Late To Die Young', the entire album is awash with the kind of hooks and melodies that most bands should aspire to and would probably kill for. Whether it can surpass the mighty '...Grace' as Treat's greatest triumph, only time will tell, but it's certainly time worth spending.

Sweden is the place to be for Melodic Hard Rock at the moment. H.e.a.t and Eclipse are the younger upstarts flying the flag for the genre, but on this showing Treat are clearly unwilling to relinquish their place as the true Masters. Absolutely Essential!

Ant Heeks