The Birthday Massacre - Diamonds

Updated: Apr 30, 2020

Label: Metropolis Records

Release date: 27th March 2020

Genre: Electronic rock / industrial-metal

The Canadian electronic rock group, The Birthday Massacre are back with their new album "Diamonds"! Originally formed in London, Ontario 1999 as Imagica, their music grabbed attention with their captivating hybrid of 80s' electronica and aggressive guitars fused with a cinematic quality of melodic progressions, giving them a diverse yet devoted fanbase. With their ever-growing fans on the internet and in their city of Toronto, their confidence was shown onstage with extreme energy and highly entertaining performances.

With "Diamonds", it is said to contain an opposing exploration of darkness and well as light, so it is a poison and it's antidote. Longtime fans of The Birthday Massacre will once again experience Chibi's icy and pressuring voice will take our hands into the music of distinctive soaring synths and guitars that'll invite us to dance into the darkness and well as out to the light.

Tracklist:

Enter

The Sky Will Turn

Diamonds

Run

Flashback

The Last Goodbye

Crush

Mirrors

Parallel World

We “Enter” into this album with an icy synth-pop of an opener that flies right out of the gate into a gothic fairy tale by the crystalline vocals of Chibi along a rich soundscape of the fist-pumping bassline and the industrial mix of the guitars riff gives the nostalgic 80s' darkwave vibes while the following single “The Sky Will Turn” smooths the listener with a nice mid-tempo rocker. The titular track “Diamonds” heads a darker direction with grittier guitars. definitely leave listeners reminiscing to their early works like “Blue” as the synths create a crystal ball effect that gives the track its sparkle. “Run” goes back to a more pop direction with a much thicker sound that flows into the next track “Flashback”, even though with a very viscous electronic work, it goes hard on the rockier side of the band’s many elements.

The twinkling “The Last Goodbye” is a lovely tune with thumping waves flowing along with Chibi’s soft vocals during the catchy chorus giving the song an upbeat dance. The 80s' gothic club tune dragged into the modern era. “Crush” breaks it down with a violet-colored rhythmic landscape as the atmosphere oozes out rich organic and electronic instruments merging into a helluva’ industrial track with a smooth chorus line. “Mirrors” surprised me with a fat bass line in the intro, so I knew this was going to be heavy track. The sinister guitar and the sparkling key line were like a battle between the light and dark, exploding into a dark electronic metal track. The conclusion “Parallel World” really packs a punch on the electro-rock side with a theatrical approach that shows how far the band has shined in their latest work.

As a follow up to their 2017's "Under Your Spell", they really know how to keep the hype and originality to their music, though the album may have been short, it definitely filled in a lot of amazing music to be among one of the best releases in 2020 so far.

Final rating: 8.5