The Black Maria
"Lead Us to Reason"
Victory Records

The Black Maria is a new project from former members of Grade, Zyon, and New Day Rising. This record has a poppy, accessible sound that will leave fans of the last Grade album scratching their heads. Grade’s final album was a raw, screamy, metal mess of a record and I loved every minute of it. “Lead Us to Reason” definitely has a Grade feel to it, but ultimately it comes up lacking.

The production of this record is greatly improved, as young producer Mike Green adds a lot of textures of guitar and backing vocals that make this effort stand out from any of Grade’s previous records. The band also used piano for many of the song’s introductions. On “The Lines We Cross” singer Chris Gray is way out of his range and sounds pretty nasally. Tracks like “Betrayal” and “Our Commitment’s a Sickness” display the band’s greatest talent with powerful, rock songs that have anthemic choruses.

Black Maria have a bright future and have a handful of great songs on this disc, but its not something that stands out to me as being one of the better records of the year. I guess this is considered “emo”, but I could care less what the kids are calling it these days. “Lead Us to Reason” is worth a listen if you were ever into “Separate the Magnets”-era Grade. Not bad.

Reviewed by: Adam Circumstance
Reviewed on: March 27, 2005