Susan Frances
04/16/08, 02:07 PM
The Birthday Massacre - Walking with Strangers
Record Label: Metropolis Records
Release Date: September 11, 2007
If you Google the subject “band names with the word Massacre in them,” you will come up with pages and pages of bands who adopted the word “massacre” as part of their moniker; most of those bands fall into the grindcore/thrash metal clique. But The Birthday Massacre are very different from any massacre-like-band-name you have ever experienced. Their music has an association with nu-metal bands in the melodic vane of Lacuna Coil and Fair to Midland with a combination of goth rock and new wave atmospherics relatable to Depeche Mode and Berlin. As much as you have heard these styles interwoven before, there is something about the way The Birthday Massacre play that will make you feel like you are listening to completely new music.
The rock quintet’s third full length album Walking with Strangers is an experience where fantasy and harsh reality meet, where horror flick/trippy-like electronica intermingles with prog rock’s intensity and depth of emotion. The Birthday Massacre’s album is music that is difficult to describe in words, though to experience it is like being on the Indiana Jones Adventure Ride at Disney World. It moves in ways that are thrilling, frightfully dark, and always mysterious.
The Birthday Massacre are fronted by female vocalist Chibi, who has remained a prominent piece of this Canadian band since its inception in 2002. Her voice has a maiden-like resonance reflective of Monsters Are Waiting’s lead singer Annalee Fery. Chibi’s voice has a viable presence in every track, even through the murky atmospherics of the title track and “To Die For” created by keyboardist Owen and guitarists M. Falcore on lead and Rainbow on rhythm guitar. The rhythm section of bassist O.E. and drummer Rhim produces grooves filled with echoing effects that make the music feel like it is moving through an underground tunnel. That spine chilling sarcophagus/goth rock pitch found in Lacuna Coil’s music is a formidable fixture in The Birthday Massacre’s songs “Red Stripes,” which is counterbalanced by ethereal winged electronica on tracks like “Falling Down” and “Unfamiliar.”
Hypnotically-pronged effects are distributed through “Kill the Lights” and “Goodnight” producing an ambiance that is befitting for a cemetery, building heaps of dark toned instrument phrases and then breaking them down systematically. “Looking Glass” is geared by goth rock generators with Teflon-strength intensity as the ominous passages of “Science” and “Remember Me” show new wave pellets reminiscent of The Cars and Berlin. Fantasy-like electronica impale “Weekend” with a colorful palette of effects, whereas the flowy ambient rock frequencies of “Movie” drips of soft sonic petals texturing the sequences and moving like a milky-sauce spread across the melodic floorboards. The lyrics for “Movie” construct a lifelike image of seeing the light at the ending of the tunnel: “Take this time to turn and say good-bye / Frozen / The words go unspoken / New victims are chosen / My heart may be broken but so will my fear.”
The Birthday Massacre’s songs form pictures in the mind both fantasy-like and real. They are songs that are to be lived in. The band works with styles of music that are familiar, but in their hands it sounds like this has never been done before. The Birthday Massacre truly are a hidden gem that need a spotlight on them so others can see them in clear view.
Lacuna Coil, Fair to Midland, Nine Inch Nails
myspace.com/thebirthdaymassacre (http://www.myspace.com/thebirthdaymassacre)
Record Label: Metropolis Records
Release Date: September 11, 2007
If you Google the subject “band names with the word Massacre in them,” you will come up with pages and pages of bands who adopted the word “massacre” as part of their moniker; most of those bands fall into the grindcore/thrash metal clique. But The Birthday Massacre are very different from any massacre-like-band-name you have ever experienced. Their music has an association with nu-metal bands in the melodic vane of Lacuna Coil and Fair to Midland with a combination of goth rock and new wave atmospherics relatable to Depeche Mode and Berlin. As much as you have heard these styles interwoven before, there is something about the way The Birthday Massacre play that will make you feel like you are listening to completely new music.
The rock quintet’s third full length album Walking with Strangers is an experience where fantasy and harsh reality meet, where horror flick/trippy-like electronica intermingles with prog rock’s intensity and depth of emotion. The Birthday Massacre’s album is music that is difficult to describe in words, though to experience it is like being on the Indiana Jones Adventure Ride at Disney World. It moves in ways that are thrilling, frightfully dark, and always mysterious.
The Birthday Massacre are fronted by female vocalist Chibi, who has remained a prominent piece of this Canadian band since its inception in 2002. Her voice has a maiden-like resonance reflective of Monsters Are Waiting’s lead singer Annalee Fery. Chibi’s voice has a viable presence in every track, even through the murky atmospherics of the title track and “To Die For” created by keyboardist Owen and guitarists M. Falcore on lead and Rainbow on rhythm guitar. The rhythm section of bassist O.E. and drummer Rhim produces grooves filled with echoing effects that make the music feel like it is moving through an underground tunnel. That spine chilling sarcophagus/goth rock pitch found in Lacuna Coil’s music is a formidable fixture in The Birthday Massacre’s songs “Red Stripes,” which is counterbalanced by ethereal winged electronica on tracks like “Falling Down” and “Unfamiliar.”
Hypnotically-pronged effects are distributed through “Kill the Lights” and “Goodnight” producing an ambiance that is befitting for a cemetery, building heaps of dark toned instrument phrases and then breaking them down systematically. “Looking Glass” is geared by goth rock generators with Teflon-strength intensity as the ominous passages of “Science” and “Remember Me” show new wave pellets reminiscent of The Cars and Berlin. Fantasy-like electronica impale “Weekend” with a colorful palette of effects, whereas the flowy ambient rock frequencies of “Movie” drips of soft sonic petals texturing the sequences and moving like a milky-sauce spread across the melodic floorboards. The lyrics for “Movie” construct a lifelike image of seeing the light at the ending of the tunnel: “Take this time to turn and say good-bye / Frozen / The words go unspoken / New victims are chosen / My heart may be broken but so will my fear.”
The Birthday Massacre’s songs form pictures in the mind both fantasy-like and real. They are songs that are to be lived in. The band works with styles of music that are familiar, but in their hands it sounds like this has never been done before. The Birthday Massacre truly are a hidden gem that need a spotlight on them so others can see them in clear view.
Lacuna Coil, Fair to Midland, Nine Inch Nails
myspace.com/thebirthdaymassacre (http://www.myspace.com/thebirthdaymassacre)