The Birthday Massacre: Hide and Seek: Track 2, Down

The Birthday Massacre
Hide and Seek
October 9th, 2012
Metropolis Records

Since this release isn’t slated to drop for almost seven weeks, I’m going to approach this review with a new angle. Every few days I’ll be writing about one of the albums ten tracks.

The second track on each of The Birthday Massacre’s releases is usually reserved for the heaviest song on the album, and it’s no exception with Down. The sound of calming rain drops soon give way to a ticking clock that’s coutning down to the industrial guitar hum that in turn heralds crashing symbols and bombastic guitars. Listen to this track with earbuds. The band has added so many details to the music that can only really be appreciated with the aural assault at this close range. The multiple vocal layers only heighten the tracks intensity. Chibi’s soothing vocals mesh perfectly with Rainbow and Falcore’s thundering basslines and crashing guitar riffs.
But it’s a very sad song full of thoughts on missed opportunities and regret of things left undone. Chibi’s trademark gutteral growls shred through her ethereal vocals during the song’s chorus and scold the listener for wasting precious time. “Too late, no time for now. Can’t wait now. It’s too late. No time for now. Can’t wait and now we all fall down into the fire and my visions have all come true.”
This is the track that, when played live, will have the crowd bouncin when hopefully played during the band’s live set.
“There’s a lesson that we learn in the pages that we burn,” Chibi warns us during the track’s final lines. “I know that I won’t miss you til you’re gone, into the fire.”