It was almost 20 years ago and the alternative scene was overflowing with what nowadays should be deemed “creepy cute”. I still have a Skelanimal backpack that I can’t quite part with because of Toy Story syndrome and thanks to an internet connection and shitty torrent sites, the music world got more attainable than before. It was not like you could download an entire discography just yet though, I had to guard the computer so that no one else in the family interrupted the process. With the help of MySpace, I discovered songs from bands like Switchblade Symphony, Bella Morte and Jack Off Jill. Then I found the song Horror Show by The Birthday Massacre and they quickly became one of my favorite bands at the time. The black and purple aesthetic with the bleeding bunny logo made them the perfect soundtrack for that creepy cute trend and I was onboard. I’d love to say that they stayed with me throughout the years but somewhere before we entered the 2010’s they faded into the back of my memory, for unclear reasons I can’t even remember.
I’ve written about this teen love of mine on the blog before but I haven’t really given their recent music a chance. The fact is that I stopped listen to the band somewhere after album no. 3, Walking With Strangers and The Birthday Massacre has no less than 8 (!!) more albums in their discography, plus a live album and something that looks like a compilation album. So when I woke up and scrolled through my insta feed, something caught my eye (gotta love the surprise element when you follow random hashtags). The Birthday Massacre released a new album TODAY and I’m just in the mood for some easygoing darkwave/electronic rock. I mean, it’s Friday and spirits need to be lifted.
The album’s called Fascination and I’ve only listened through the entire album one time but it’s leaning more towards an 80’s new wave/synth pop sound than their early 2000’s albums did. Maybe they have sounded like this for longer but since I haven’t heard most of their albums I couldn’t tell you. What I do know is that the old, distinct The Birthday Massacre synthesized sound works extremely well with the retro vibes and I fucking love this. I’m probably too old, tired and stubborn to make one band my whole identity but if I was 15 today, this would probably be it. Fascination makes me wish for my black and purple synthetic dreads back and paint heart-shaped tears under my eyes.
The entire album is not yet on Bandcamp for free but it’s also out on Spotify and YouTube. My favorite songs are Dreams of You, One More Time and Once Again.
Bandcamp link to The Birthday Massacre here.
And she stumbled down the rabid hole 