The Birthday Massacre is a guilty pleasure—their New Wave/goth/metal sound can be very atmospheric and extraordinarily catchy, but their Hot-Topic-meets-Hello-Kitty look makes them the kind of band that you don’t take a potential significant other to see in concert. Their new album Pins and Needles, released on Tuesday, largely sticks to the Birthday Massacre’s proven recipe of synth-driven, eerie songs with catchy and melodic choruses. When the formula for success is followed, it usually works. Occasionally, though, Pins and Needles attempts to take on a more mainstream, guitar-driven sound that fails to impress.
The opening track, “In the Dark,” exhibits their new guitar sound right off the bat. It’s a sort of nu-metal chugging that is toned down in heaviness from songs off their previous albums that featured distortion-rich guitar, and it seems to lack depth. The whole song, in fact, sounds as if it lacks emotion; perhaps it is over-produced, or maybe it’s just a bland song. Either way, not a great way to start the album.
The next two songs, though they are rhythmically slower, really get the album going. “Always” and “Pale” are The Birthday Massacre at their best, with lead singer Chibi (you’d have to ask her about the name) singing in her clean and pretty voice over synth-rich melodies that are melancholic and haunting respectively. A few mediocre songs follow until the songs “Midnight” and “Sleepwalking,” which are upbeat Birthday Massacre classics that effortlessly blend heavy guitar riffs and synth.
A few songs are dull. “Sideways” and “Two Hearts,” suffer from melodies and choruses that fail to grip the listener. Listening to these songs makes you feel that the band has exhausted their lyrical reservoir, which was never very deep. Worse, though, has to be “Shallow Grave,” which is simply annoying. A curious song is the title track, “Pins and Needles,” which sounds like New Wave meets 80’s stadium rock. Interesting, to say the least.
Overall, Pins and Needles is a mixed bag. When it’s good, it’s really good, and you’ll be humming the melodies for days. Too often, though, it seems that the band didn’t have their heart in it. If you do get a copy of this, remember not to let your girlfriend/boyfriend see it—this is, after all, the band that used to have a bass player named Aslan.