Aside from demos, this appears to be the initial release from U.K. (Stockton-on-Tees) industrial dance/synthpop outfit Null White. The main man behind the project is Lee Brown (softsynths, programming) and on 'The Birth' he mostly handles it all, except for vocals. This is a project that doesn't seem to have many vocals (except for dialogue samples), which is too bad because it really needs them. There are a couple of guest vocalists though on a few tracks ' Ruby Razer (formerly with a band called The Cage), and Scott 'Deathboy' Lamb who some of you may be familiar with. I don't think Deathboy has been up to much else lately and I think he only sings on one or two tracks ('Hellraiser,' cover of the Suicide Commando song, I'm pretty sure, and 'Mobius 3' + the Shadow System remix of the same, I think), credible job at that. Ruby sings on 3 tracks (4 if you count the 'Underground Revolution' remix) and in my opinion, she raises the bar on what would otherwise be another average dark-electro project. (Lee, you gotta get her to join the band; good for recording, good for live ' trust me on this.)

Most of what I'm hearing here straddles the fence between EMB and synthpop; nothing fancy, 4-on-the floor in the beat dept., fairly standard synth sounds, and simple melodies. Maybe too simple for the tracks without vocals. The thing is, today, anyone with decent computer softsynth, sequencing and recording programs, and a rudimentary skillset of beat and melody can crank this stuff out like nobody's business. It's all in the variation that makes it special. For most, the variation is in the vocal department, especially in an EBM/synthpop genre combo. There are other ways to do it purely instrumentally, but that gets complicated. Since Lee already has a very good singer in Ruby, why not make the best of a sure thing? The tracks she sings on 'Underground Revolution,' 'Purge,' and 'Burn' (cover of The Cure song by the same name) are the best on the album; very catchy and most memorable, especially on 'Underground Revolution'. Ruby's voice is well-suited to the material too; fits right in.

Besides the stompers (most of the tracks) there is one rather nice beatless, reflective instrumental track ' 'Endgame,' which displays the softer side of Null White. For a first outing, this isn't a bad CD, but it could have been better, and if Ruby teams up with Lee on a more permanent basis, I think Null White could be a band to watch, and of course, listen to.