The Black Maria – Lead Us To Reason

Victory Records have been signing bands here and there nonstop lately, and like most of their bands, they are hit and miss. Although Victory tends to stay in the hardcore/emo side of the music spectrum, they have surprised its fan base with a few unlikely releases over the years, making it so you can’t be sure what a Victory band will sound like. Lately, Victory have been related to more emo bands like Hawthorne Heights and Silverstein, and they have just added one more band to go along with that sound with the Black Maria and their newest release Lead Us To Reason.

The first time I ever was able to really experience the band was at their CD release show for Lead Us To Reason in Edmonton as they opened for Sum41. They played a good, solid thirty minute set with a few standout tracks but nothing too spectacular. Their album leaves you with that same feeling.

Very similar to Hawthorne Heights and Silverstein, The Black Maria don’t really offer you much you haven’t heard before. Now, that’s not saying they don’t know what they are doing, boasting ex-members of Grade and New Day Rising, the 5-piece do know how to write a solid song. But at times, they try to hard to follow the trend instead of letting their music be their own. The vocals are strong, but then they ruin it with pointless screams thrown in here and there for no real good reason other then to follow the trend. There is no need to end The Memento by screaming “I HATE YOU!” over and over again, it would’ve sounded fine without it.

They switch the sound up a bit on songs like Betrayal and Our Commitment’s A Sickness (the two standout tracks by far) but other then that, they tend to follow the same structure; which makes it so you feel like you’ve heard the song before and it just melts into background music rather then taking control of your emotions.

The Black Maria‘s Lead Us To Reason is a somewhat enjoyable album. It demonstrates some great potential, but at times you feel they are just following the blossoming emo trend, especially with lyrics about suicide, angels, and love. Once they let go and write their music for themselves instead of following the mold to impress the impressionable emo fans then they will be able to give us an album which will last in your CD player for more then just two or three weeks.