Hide and Seek

Gothy Canadian synth rockers the Birthday Massacre return with their fifth full-length album, Hide and Seek, their first proper record since 2010's Pins and Needles. During the recording process, lead singer Chibi was diagnosed with polyps, which affected not just the sound of her voice, but added to the tension of the band's already dark sound. Themes of death, loss, and nightmarish images fill the album, which the band said in interviews was partially inspired by an obsession with unsolved mysteries and John Carpenter's horror movies. Leadoff track "Down" wanders into more guitar-heavy industrial metal territory than the group's usual synth-driven material.