Album Review: Binary Order – Messages from the Deep (Self Released)

Binary Order was started in 2008 by London based solo musician Benjamin Blank as a way to combine his love for multiple genres. It wasn’t until the mid-2010s that Binary Order started to take on the form it does today. Fusing the intensity of metal, the atmosphere and melodies of synth and the soul of rock and acoustic is what is at the heart of Binary Order.

Released on November 29th, 2022, Messages from the Deep is Binary Order’s new album. Birthed from a fear of the future while existing in a present that feels foreign and cold. It also looks at both the prevalent social and political unrest in modern society and the warning signs we are continuing to ignore.

A sci-fi horror soundscape of industrial death with unexpected epic detail. Messages from the Deep is a tense and anxiety-driven slab of inspired heavy music. Were once again, a solo artist stuns with their capabilities. Binary Order has proven to be an impressive act before but this new album is something else.

Perhaps it’s the inspirations of the time that makes Messages from the Deep sound and feel so much bigger. So much darker and so much more important. It’s not easy for any artist to fully immerse a listener into their mindset but Binary Order manages this task with relative ease. Track after track of grandiose industrial, synth and melody paired with the girth and weight of metal.

It’s a thrill-ride from the very start as Sick goes big and The Weight goes intense. The latter has a drawn-out stunner of a guitar solo. Followed then by Violence, one of the more frantically powerful and furious sounding tracks on the album. Before The Hands of Time and Towards the End take us up to the halfway point. The former is simply a brilliant example of mood-altering industrial darkness and the latter oozes passion and heart.

How good is this? You’d have to not be paying any attention at all to not have your head turned by this album so far. Yet, it just gets better as it goes on. First, with the stupidly heavy and gloomy industrial thumps of Parasite. Then with a wilder and coarser effort called My Own Mortality. Before Still Water serves to remind the listener just how grand Binary Order can be. A melodically-tinged epic that elects some seriously strong feelings.

Finally, and disappointingly (because it’s endinh), it’s the title track and A Good Death to wrap things up. Two more top-tier sci-fi infused. industrial metal bangers to leave all feeling extremely satisfied. The former, the longest track on the album and one that will send ‘Blade Runner’ shivers down the spine. Whereas the latter, is focused on melodic guitar tones, smooth vocals and less mentally intrusive effects. It’s a powerful closer.

There’s no two ways about it. Binary Order has delivered an album of the year contender.

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