Quick, Before It Melts.

I've never put on airs about the fact that I was born and raised in Welland, Ontario, famous for its canal and very little else. It's been a hardworking, industrial town for as long as its been around (which will be 150 years in 2008), about 20 minutes from Niagara Falls and and hour and a half from Toronto on a good day ( we Canadians measure distance in time, you know?). Growing up, the biggest claim to fame Welland had was the soap opera actor Bryan Genesse was a hometown boy, even though he wasn't born here.

Thanks, then, to the young men of Attack In Black, for not only putting Welland on the cultural map, as it were, but for doing it with such an accomplished and splendid record as their debut, Marriage. Attack In Black have found themselves lumped in with the growing number of melodic, hardcore outfits in this area (Alexisonfire heading the charge), but as their sound has grown and developed, they've begun to move into some pretty unfamiliar and exciting territory for a punk band. Influences like Neil Young, Springsteen, and Sloan are peppered across the album. I'm really enjoying Marriage beyond just the novelty of it being by a local band, but what really excites me about Attack In Black is "what comes next". I have a feeling that Album Number 2 is going to be absolutely exceptional, if this disc is anything to go by.

They haven't abandoned their hardcore roots completely, which is why you really have to hear the whole album to appreciate how they marry their origins to their more recent sound development. Just listening to these two tracks in isolation won't do it for you.

Attack In Black "Young Leaves" (from the album Marriage, 2007)

Attack In Black "Northern Towns" (from the album Marriage, 2007)

++Attack In Black
>>official
>>myspace
>>hype machine
>>elbo.ws
>>buy Marriage from iTunes