Ghoulish name (usually printed in a blood-dripping font) and metallic rhythm riffs aside, The Birthday Massacre plays a refreshingly innocent and inviting brand of electro-industrial pop. Singer Chibi’s voice recalls coquettish chirpers such as Altered Images’ Clare Grogan and Nu Shooz’s Valerie Day. Even when she’s eulogizing doomed relationships or fantasizing about mass murder (during “Happy Birthday,” which elaborates on the band’s moniker), Chibi never strains to sound melancholic or evil. The Birthday Massacre loves the ’80s, from its synthesizer hooks to its new-wave guitars to its fairly faithful (to Tiffany) version of “I Think We’re Alone Now,” and the Toronto-based sextet also adores goth fashion. But while the group’s black-clad members put the “mascara” in Massacre, it’s dance-party sweat, not tears, that makes their cosmetics run.

Fri., May 30, 8:30 p.m., 2008