Backlash from the dutch town of Vlissingen was formed in late 2000 by vocalist Dennis Raayman. Halfway trough 2001 the band recorded their first demo called [i]Ambition to Follow[/i], which landed them a good amount of gigs. After another demo in 2002 ([i]Reality Betrayed[/i]) the band decided to record their first full lenght album in early 2004. This became [i]The Binary Choice[/i], which they completely produced, recorded, mixed and mastered themselves.

At first I thought I was listening to a band with their roots in Iron Maiden and old Metallica type of bands, until vocalist dennis kicks in, who utilizes a powerfull deathmetal like grunt. "Break Out" sounds a bit to typical for me but the song "Backstab" actually reminded me of Death at some parts, which is a very good thing. Some songs that stood out for me troughout the disc are "Backlash", some good riffs in that one, and "Ambition to Follow", one of the more aggresive sounding tracks on the disc. "Destiny's End" is nice as well, with a nice melodic solo intro, before errupting into a fast riff. The disc ends with a song dedicated to Johnny Cash, "Tribute To The Man In Black". nice!

[i]The Binary Choice[/i] is a good first full lenght, altough I think some of the songs sound a bit "typical" for this style of music, with sometimes very familiar sounding intros and simple song structures. It would be nice if Backlash can give a cool twist to their own material which would make them stand out a bit more.

tracklist:
1 - Break Out
2 - False Expections
3 - Driven
4 - Rotten
5 - Reality Betrayed
6 - Backlash
7 - Serving The Cause
8 - Ambition To Follow
9 - Backstab
10 - Destiny's End
11 - T.T.T.M.I.B.