Things I Miss: The Black Maria - Lead Us To Reason

A fair amount of new music that I discovered in my youth was through the record store I worked for.  The store gave folks the option of cracking open a new CD to check out (we had shrink wrapping in the back to seal it all back up for customers looking to buy as a gift afterwards), or whatever was playing on the speakers in the store at any given time.  Since my boss was not fond of my hard rock/heavy metal vibes, she asked me to keep them on the down low until she was gone and I was running the night shift.

So back to the discovery of new bands.  We would get record labels dropping us promotional copies to play in the stores of the newest bands they have signed.  One band that Victory Records was promoting at the time was The Black Maria.  A Toronto based band that (in all honestly wasn't that heavy) produced two albums in it's short time span and definitely caught my attention.  It was even better that no one else on my staff wanted the album, so after the play copy promo was finished I got myself a copy of the album too.  Bonus!

"As a catalyst for generations of great art, music and literature, psychic pain and anxiety are not uncommon. Under the relentless strain of the road, many a rock musician has battled crippling paranoia and dark thoughts. The Black Maria stand out from the pack by creating music of epic beauty and fierce power, transforming fear and psychic brutality into songs that explode from the speakers with a symphonic vengeance. The Black Maria assimilates the orchestral elements, electronics and off-beat song effect experiments on their 2005 debut, Lead Us To Reason, and marries them to their hard rock base, creating a gorgeous, layered musical framework that walks the razor edge of rock genres toward their own precise statement." -Victory Records

Like I mentioned previously, The Black Maria came from the greater Toronto area and released their debut record "Lead Us To Reason" on January 25th, 2005 via Victory Records.  They sold 50,000+ copies of the debut record and managed to tour with the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, MxPx, The Distillers, Goldfinger, Paramore, Alexisonfire, Rise Against, Silverstein, The Alkaline Trio, Chevelle, Taproot, Evanescence, and Stone Sour.

1. The Memento
2. Betrayal
3. Organs
4. Our Commitment's a Sickness
5. The Distance from the Bottom
6. The Lines We Cross
7. Mirrors and Cameras
8. Sirens
To Have Loved
10. Ash
11. Rats in the Prison

Boasting one-time Grade frontman Kyle Bishop, the Black Maria achieves a comfortable balance of alluring hooks and sonic chaos on its impressive entry, Lead Us to Reason. Airwave-ripe screamo is in abundance here, as evidenced by the accessible roar of "Betrayal" and the aggressive opener "The Memento." If the latter's bleak lyrical tone ("I have this overwhelming urge/To suck in one good breath and scream/There is no love left inside of me") permeates the album, the dark albeit big rock roar of tunes like "Organs" and "Ash" are a perfect match. By lending pop subtleties to metallic punk, the Black Maria has proved its motives come closer to crafting a top-notch disc than reaching for the brass-ring peers like My Chemical Romance and the Used have already snagged. Financial rewards may be imminent, but they are also well warranted. -All Music



The group disbanded in 2007 after their second release "A Shared History of Tragedy" back in 2006.  Keep in mind the members maintained that they would not be recording or touring, but remaining active in the music industry and in various projects.

"In the last year of touring, we have learned more about ourselves and the kind of men we are than you could possibly imagine. We have worked, sacrificed, won and lost more than most trying to live a sometimes impossible dream. We shared in all of this together." -Chris Gray