The Birthday Massacre is a Canadian gothic and electronic rock band formed in 1999. They gained widespread recognition with their 2005 breakout album ‘Violet’, featuring standout songs ‘Blue’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ that cemented their signature sound, a hypnotic blend of eerie, ethereal melodies and heavy, driving riffs. The sextet release a brand new album ‘Pathways,’ their tenth, this month, three years on from their last studio album `Fascination`.
The album opens with ‘Sleep Tonight’ which is “a song about being haunted by our own ghosts,” the band explain. “Memories and regrets follow us as we try to find comfort. Even the most familiar and safe places can feel sinister as we wrestle with these feelings that we often bury deep within ourselves.” It`s saturated with heavy synths and is fairly dreamy with an edge and slight apprehensive feeling. We appear to have a reflection on a lost love with `All Of You` which although the romance is long over there`s still a sense of loss or regret instilled within the narrator.
`The Vanishing Game` is a further introspective contemplative listen with a fairly ethereal ambience. A pulsing beat leads us along title track `Pathways` which may be about a cycle of trying to move forward but ending up back where you began.
`Whisper` is another illusory offering which may be about letting go, at times it has a darker edge with some unclean vocals shared throughout. There`s a slight eighties new wave, indie rock vibe to `Wish` which once again seems to be meditative and slightly brooding.
`Faces` is a dreamy ruminative composition which does have cautionary fragments shared along with some harder edged auditory soundscapes. The final cut `Cruel Love` is a fairly expansive submission with vocals that express a kind of vulnerability and inevitability about the devotion and tenderness that seems missing from this skewered romance.
`Pathways` is an enjoyable listen and i`m sure the eight tracks shared will offer something for faithful fans as well as listeners new to this darkwave ensemble that combines electronica, goth, and new wave.
Lead vocalist Sara ‘Chibi’ Taylor, rhythm guitarist Michael Rainbow, lead guitarist Michael Falcore, keyboardist Owen Mackinder, drummer Philip Elliott, and bassist Brett Curruthers head over to the UK in support of this album for a baker`s dozen of gigs towards the end of October. It`s been nearly eight years since I last caught the band so i`m looking forward to getting my fix of Canadian gothic rock and dark pop.
Rating 8/10
