Album Review: Superstition by The Birthday Massacre – Dark and Enchanting

Superstition has a certain magic to it. It’s the kind of music that is an absolute joy to listen to. If you close your eyes and really focus on it, really listen, it has the ability to transport you somewhere completely new, completely fantastical. The Birthday Massacre have created a beautiful new dimension with this album.

I think this sensation is largely due to the singers’ voice. it’s soft and lilting and carries the songs so beautifully. And yet, when she wants it to, it can turn low and creepy and then back again in the blink of an eye. It’s an interesting contrast to the lyrics, which are often quite dark and gloomy, yet utterly enchanting all the same.

In addition, the music itself really takes on a life of its own. it’s powerful, it’s calculated, and it compliments the magic of the story in the most unique way. Keyboards meet guitars and mesh into this new sort of gloomy electronic rock kind of sound, and it’s absolutely wonderful. This album is more of an experience than anything. I do recommend listening distraction-free, and with your eyes closed if you feel so inclined and wish to go on a little journey.

Superstition tells a bit of a tragic love story of sorts, I think. Without a whole lot of love… and with a lot of tragedy.

The first half of the album follow what sounds like a pair of lovers to me. One singing to the other about memories of when they were strangers, and the current tragedies that are befalling the two of them.

The ending of the first track “Divide” feels like a prophecy of sorts;

“The fates will divide in three.
A sight that we can’t unsee.
We’re falling to our hands and knees
as the past and the future bleed into the world below.”

The opening line of “Destroyer” sets the scene as a bit of a dark fantasy

“This is a fantasy, projecting the vanity
A quiet delusion, controlling me”

And the chorus of “Surrender” hints at the danger

“Surrender
I know you are hiding here
Come, my dear
You can hide in the night while I’m waiting here, all alone”

After Surrender, the tone changes a bit as a new character is introduced. A very mysterious being who appears to want only destruction. She is introduced in “Rain.”

Praise the white-handed queen

Rain is a very simple track. Two short verses, with a chorus that only repeats “falling like the rain” many times over, accompanied by a lot of instrumental sections. I think the simplicity here is powerful. It’s vague and mysterious, and the music really speaks for itself as the story takes an even darker and more interesting turn.

At the beginning of the album in opening track “Divide,” we are told about “fates” which will “divide in three.” I wonder if this was foreshadowing to the introduction we get in the beginning of “Oceania”

“From the ocean, we were washed up on the other shore
We didn’t know where we’d been, or who we were before
We were two brothers and a sister with three poison hearts
We walked so close together, but our souls were always far apart”

The final song talks about “breaking through the other side.” A cliffhanger maybe? Perhaps the story isn’t over.

Conclusion

Superstition weaves an impeccably mysterious little tale, with some very intriguing characters and a very deep and whimsical soundtrack to accompany them. The electronic elements mixing with some more fast-paced, rock and roll-ish vibes creates the most beautiful setting for a magical adventure set in a creative and soulful fantasy world.

This album really takes you on a trip. Like really, who needs drugs? All you need to escape is an album like this one.

You can read more about The Birthday Massacre here —>>The Birthday Massacre Profile 

Want to Listen?

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