Binary Order‘s sole member, Benjamin Blank, is an established figure on the death-fuelled industrial scene, and on new album Messages From The Deep he cements that reputation with another set of solid, futuristic sturm und drang.

Rather lamentably, this is my first contact with Binary Order despite this being their seventh release, so I can’t tell you where the album stands in their canon as regards quality; I am, however, able to make some observations on what Messages… brings to the table (get on with doing just that, then – Ed).

Blank sounds more comfortable in the death registers; despite there being a similar breakdown in death/clean vocal ratios to, say, Fear Factory, his voice just doesn’t sound as comfortable melodically as does Burton C. Bell‘s. His voice isn’t actively horrible – an acquired taste might be more of an accurate descriptor – but it often isn’t able to back up the clear ambition of the songwriting in all the ways you’d like as a listener. That said, when he does get the balance right, on Towards The End, the results are crushingly pleasing.

And that songwriting, it has to be said, is very good. Backed by a brash, clear production that stoves the head in from the get-go, Blank knows exactly what it takes to wring some emotion out of essentially mechanical music; whether it be angsty grumpiness (Sick) or heart-wrenching melancholy (the album’s standout, The Hands of Time, a superb slice of Numanoid sadness that will stay with you for a fair while after you stop listening to it), our hero leaves no stone on the dark side of the human psyche left unturned on this album. It’s a bit of a wringer to put yourself through, but the end result, a sort of cleansing by trial by ordeal, is well worth the process.

Still Water isn’t a million miles from Germany’s darkwave king Sanz – at least until the crashing axes hammer the latter part of the song – and it has to be said that there’s a good variety of sonic titilation going on here – certainly good enough to encourage me to explore Binary Order’s back catalogue. Have a listen yourself and see what you think…

Messages From The Deep is out now.