CIPHER CAPUT

TREATMENT are my initial new discovery in 2010. 'Cipher Caput' is their first official album (not counting several 7'' and cassette productions). Here they provide avantgarde infected space rock coloured with some jazzy and krautrock impressions. Or to describe it in another way: just mix up some Hawkwind and Gong inspirations and decorate this with a straightforward punk appeal here and there - the result is an impressing adventure really!

Now this points to a mixed bag of impressions. The Hidden Attack appears slowly ... but finally with intense when a heavy Hawkwind groove evolves by and by, backing soaring guitar and synths. This is followed by the straightforward rock n' roll adapted The Boing Song - punk light with a repetitive behaviour - one or two may say that this is a filler. Nah, it simply refers to the roots and therefore belongs to the band's unique attitude.

The next one is anything but Risky - a killer space rocker - grooving, the guitars are playfully placed and especially this reminds me at the Welsh Man band somehow. Sparkling piano at the end after the downfall - they know how to establish tension when preparing for the highlight Dissolving - this is a wonderful Gong inspired space song which starts as a ballad but moves into a groovy hurry up behaviour later. The vocals are blazingly close to Steve Winwood here. Well - this is a song which I can easily enjoy ten times in a row.

The following songs show the band adding more jazzy elements. Cigarettes And Starling is swinging with much easiness where Doubt and A Better Future For Britain drift into a more weird experimental direction with exceptional vocals and narration. All in all this hopefully makes it clear that 'Cipher Caput' holds a freaky cocktail of styles and the arrangements are enjoyable from the beginning to the end.

The band were famous în the wider area of London mostly, participated at several festivals (Stonehenge f.e.) and gave many exciting gigs including painted faces as one trademark. Sadly TREATMENT went into sleep in the 90s - however this is not the end of the story. Just to add some mystery finally - they have a complete album in the pipeline which is not released yet because of some trouble with the label's demise. Hopefully this will see the light of day this year.