The Black Maria - Lead Us To Reason

Forming out of the departed Grade, New Day Rising, and Zyon, The Black Maria is poised to be another Victory Records radio band. Their debut, Lead Us to Reason reeks of airplay-ready tunes. And if history tells us anything, this trend that suits the Black Maria should be fading out of the mainstream pretty soon, so they'd better take advantage of it while they can. Now I'm not trying to be harsh on the Black Maria--they know their instruments, and they're deft in the art of creating radio-friendly rock songs, whether that's a good thing or not. It's just that this album, this music, seems to be trying so hard to be embraced by a community of music fans who will probably not give a shit about them in a few years. There's nothing that screams originality here; nothing that shows they've tried to develop their own sound, that is. Occasionally the band will step out of this mold: See "The Lines We Cross, " for instance. But the majority of this record is just too generic to really garner a lot of positive feedback, from this reviewer anyway. Their sound is so overdone--heavy parts, some screaming, typical this, typical that. On the plus side, Chad Gray has the ability to go beyond the vocals appearing here, when he deems it necessary. Sadly though, he doesn't do this enough. Is there potential here? Definitely. The Black Maria has talent, but this time they've used that talent in a way that really doesn't showcase their capabilities, and until they do so, they'll probably fall into some "flavor of the week" deal. [www.theblackmaria.com]