Since 2002, The Birthday Massacre has been crafting a special kind of darkwave sound uniquely their own. With each release, the Canadian group paints an aural soundtrack to one’s fantasy (and fairy-tale nightmare.)

With Hide and Seek, TBM’s fifth studio release from Metropolis Records, the synth-savvy sextet delves a little deeper down the dark rabbit hole.

The album opens with “Leaving Tonight,” a track that paints your journey into this new world. “Down” is one of the heavier tracks on the album that plays with the versatility of singer Chibi’s voice. Keyboards and synthesizers helps set the dark tone of “Play With Fire” which, then, pick you back up with “Need” and “Calling.” Both tracks are throwbacks to addictive mid-80’s pop. “Alibis” just slows the whole album down as the two prior tracks are so upbeat and this one just pulls you back down immediately. “In This Moment” is a classic TBM song complete with all of its familiar elements but unfortunately doesn’t stick out as much as it could’ve been a song off of any of their previous efforts.

Overall, ‘Hide and Seek’ starts off, strong but begins to lose some of its momentum toward the middle before picking back up at the end.

The guitar duo, Falcore and Rainbow, have done a great job crafting an 80′s synth-pop spin on the band’s signature gothic/industrial sound. Lyrically, some of the songs delve a little deeper emotionally (especially on “Need”).

For fans of The Birthday Massacre, Hide and Seek has some familiar territory but the gothic elements are toned down a bit compared to past efforts. Still, the change isn’t a bad thing as the band is still playing to their strengths.

-Henry Chung-

This post was written by:

Henry Chung – When Henry’s not busy updating this page and speaking in third person,he’s busy shooting and editing pictures from concerts and designing logos for bands.