Quick Before it Melts

Saturday 28 February 2009

The Greater Niagara Circle Route

When you live in a nowhere town like mine, it’s a pretty big deal when a local band starts making a name for themselves on a national level.  Not since Honeymoon Suite darkened the musical landscape of the early 80s has a local band garnered as much attention as Attack In Black has these last few years.  Their excellent album, Marriage, was one of the highlights of 2007 for me, and rightfully deserved its spot on the Polaris Prize longlist last year.

Marriage wasn’t the only album they released in 2007, though.  The Curve of the Earth came out as a digital and limited edition vinyl album at the end of that same year, featuring a more low-key, acoustic set of songs in contrast to Marriage‘s blend of old school rock and emo-punk.  At the time that I first wrote about them, I said that as much as I liked Marriage I was really looking forward to what they would do next, because like Sloan before them, I could hear the evolution of the music is some of the more pop tracks, and was sure that the best of Attack In Black was yet to come.

I don’t like to say that I was right, but I was.  The Curve of the Earth truly highlights the band’s songwriting chops and is just brimming with amazing acoustic rock numbers like “I’m Going To Forget”.  Not writing about that album was definitely an oversight on my part, but hopefully I’ll make up for it by bringing you word that the band has a new album in the ready:  Years (by One Thousand Fingertips) will be out on March 10th (on Dine Alone Records).  The lead single is “Beasts”, an acoustic waltz-like number that would have been very much at home on either Curve… or Marriage.  Without having heard anything more from the album, it’s not clear if the whole thing will follow the acoustic route, or if they’ll be plugging in and turning the amps back up.  I’m personally hoping for a marriage of the two sounds, as the little synthesized squeaks and squeals on “Beasts” hints that the boys may haven’t lost their edge yet.

Here’s hoping they’ll be some hometown concerts to celebrate the new album.

MP3: Attack In Black “Beasts”
Facebook: Attack In Black
Myspace: Attack In Black

by J. Di Gioia | Comments Off

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