Birthday Massacre

Goth music has existed in many forms since its inception over 20 years ago. The most successful bands borrow from the past, but also carve out a sound that is equally contemporary and all their own. On Violet, the second full-length album effort from Toronto’s audio/visual outfit the Birthday Massacre, they do just that. The nine tracks on the disc tend towards upbeat but dark synth-laden fare, with two or three tracks crossing into the territory of the genuinely heavy. The Birthday Massacre’s poetic lyrics don’t tread too far from the usual themes of love and love slipped just out of desperate reach, with a touch of implied violence and a little sense of the macabre added for seasoning. Technically Violet surpasses most of the indie albums it is likely to find itself shelved beside; excellent production values, mixing and the well-executed dark fairy tale-like songs almost guarantee that. Violet seems to be setting the stage for the band to catapult out of the dark and spooky annals of the genre, into a more mainstream spotlight. As one of the hardest working bands in the Canadian gothic scene they deserve everything that is undoubtedly coming to them.