Cardinals – ‘Masquerade’ album review: Songs caught in revolving doors
Before I dive into my review of the new Cardinals album, allow me to present you with a hypothetical.
The Skinny: You have your friends over for tea, and you’ve made them all some lovely pasta. Halfway through the meal, one friend finds out you have a guitar, so they plug it in and rip through Eddie Van Halen’s ‘Eruption’. Yes, this is very impressive, Steve, but I’m trying to eat my Carbonara.
You can dismiss the rest of the review if this comparison doesn’t make sense, but that’s how I feel with this new Cardinals record. I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s bad, because it’s certainly not, and I’m also not going to tell you the band are poor musicians, because they’re excellent, but as Masquerade plays, it’s hard for your mind not to drift on what you could be having rather than what you’re actually experiencing.
The album opens with ‘She Makes Me Real’, which has haunting vocals and is awash with distortion. It creates an incredibly thick atmosphere, the sort you could stand on top of to get a better view of whatever escapes your eyeline, and finding a critique is pretty darn tricky.
The issue arises as the album goes on, and you find that sensation is somewhat repetitive. The romantic guitar tone hardly shifts, song structures get caught in revolving doors, and the LP becomes slightly forgettable before it has even finished.
That being said, despite how much I want to eat this pasta, there’s no denying that the ‘Eruption’ solo can be pretty intriguing, and in that same vein, you can’t escape the fact that Cardinals have made a good record here, even if some songs fade into the background somewhat.
‘Anhedonia’ is a particular highlight, which sounds like a jig paired with a Smashing Pumpkins track, it’s noisy, energetic, and the kind of song that you would listen to if you were falling from the sky and only had a couple of minutes before you hit the ground.
The themes explored on the record are also varied and interesting, as topics surrounding violence, being discontent and being cynical glide over fuzz-pedal filled anthems. Also, the accordion is a nice touch.
Overall, Cardinals have made a great record, and while I wouldn’t say there’s a bad song on Masquerade, I would also say that seven out of ten of them are difficult to separate from one another.
The Verdict: A great record by a band undeniably made up of even greater musicians. The songs overlap somewhat in tone, which means some have a tendency to fade into the background, but the talent on display is evident.
Standout Track: ‘Anhedonia’
Release date: February 12th, 2026 | Producer: Shrink | Label: So Young
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