Pins and Needles

I think everybody that knows me well knows that I have a soft spot in my heart for Gothic Rock.  There's something uniquely powerful about crunchy electric guitar chords, and a pounding double-bass pedal, backed by ethereal female vocals.  If you are new to the genre, good bands to check out are Within Temptation, Sirenia, and The Birthday Massacre.  H.I.M. also represents the genre well, though with a male vocalist.

Album cover

Anyway, my purpose here is to talk about The Birthday Massacre's latest (not necessarily new anymore) album, Pins and Needles.

It is AWESOME!

I don't write music reviews, normally, but I feel compelled to share with the world how much I love this album.  I just finished listening straight through and I can safely say that I enjoyed every single minute.

The Birthday Massacre hasn't always been solidly in the Gothic Rock genre.  While their lyrics and style fit, their music has always had more of an electronic/synth quality that set them a little bit apart from the genre.  However, with this latest album they've become much more aggressive with the electric guitars, which seems a natural direction for them to go.  The electro/synth is still there, but with this new crunchier aspect, the entire sound of the band is lifted into a much more dynamic direction.

Cool look, eh?

I'm not going to go through the track list to name my favorites because they are all excellent, and I don't really want to waste my time doing so.  Suffice it to say that I give my heartfelt endorsement to this band, which has never recorded a song that I haven't liked.  And this album is their best yet.