Since 1991, the sci-fi electronics arm of the mighty power violence institution Man Is The Bastard has produced more than a hundred releases, an overwhelming output to say the least. For fans of Bastard Noise's brutal distorted squelch, it's a challenge since all of BN's releases have been consistently powerful and challenging, each one journeying through the group's unearthly electronic soundscapes that they create using unique, hand-made sound generators and oscillators. These hand made instruments give Bastard Noise a sound of their own that is more aesthetically aligned with avant-garde electronic soundtracks than the blast-furnace overdrive of Japanese harsh noise artists, and the band has also distinguished their sound by actually composing much of their material, as abstract and noisy as it might sound. There are structures and patterns in their crushing feedback manipulations that aren't immediately obvious, especially when it sounds like there is a swarm of alien locusts encasing your skull for an hour or so, but if you listen deeply enough, you'll begin to hear structure and repetition in their music. This serious approach to composing heavy electronics is combined with the same fierce anti-authoritarianism and misanthropic ideologies that surrounded the pummeling bass-driven power violence of Man Is The Bastard, which is why the "Skull" has been long one of my favorite electronics groups. If you got into electronic noise like I did in the 90's, then you know all about Bastard Noise and probably have at least a couple of their CDs and 7"s in your collections.

Even after following Bastard Noise for more than a decade, I'm still shocked by what they've done with their newest album, Rogue Astronaut. The disc just came out on the legendary San Diego post-hardcore label Gravity Records, and it's a major evolutionary step for Bastard Noise that I'm betting is going to blow away longtime fans of the band. It's a concept album in the same way that their Descent To Mimas disc is, revolving around a narrative that deals with deep space exploration, humanity ruining this planet and others, GAIA worship, and the annihilation of mankind. The foundation of their sound is still in the crushing feedback manipulations, but on this album Bastard Noise have turned into something devestating and apocalyptic, their electronic noises and feedback fully harnessed and crafted into actual songs, structured arrangements assembled from their distinctive language of oscillator sounds and brutal rhythmic squee. The songs are tense, seething electronic compositions and the closest thing that I can think of to compare them to are the eerie early science fiction soundtracks of Delia Derbyshire and Louis and Bebe Barron, but amplified to bonecrushing levels of bottom-end heaviness. Fragmenting computer code breaking down into cascades of fractal noise over malevolent bass drones. Electronic pulses throb like emergency beacons while monolithic mechanized distortion loops endlessly grind into the earth. The members of Bastard Noise actually cite stuff like the Barron's film score for the classic 1950's science fiction film Forbidden Planet as an influence on their otherworldy electronic soundscapes, but the music on Rogue Astronaut is so crushing and controlled, it's like listening to a pounding industrial version of the Forbidden Planet soundtrack on steroids, the alien chirps and metallic locust swarms and squelchy throbs concentrated into punishing hypnotic dirges. Shit, if this was all that was going on with this album, it would already be one of my favorite new industrial albums. If that classic Bastard Noise sound was powerful before, just wait till you hear it focused into the pulverising killing beam that grinds through the six songs on Rogue Astronaut.

But the real holy shit moment for me is whenever the vocals kick in. Bastard Noise have always used vocals in their music, specifically Eric Wood's deep, monstrous bellow that you recognize immediately from Man Is The Bastard. His brutal roar is what has made alot of Bastard Noise's music way heavier than your usual "noise" album, and has always been a big part of their unique "caveman electronics" sound. But on this album, we hear much more than just Eric's trademark bellow over the electronic arrangements. There are ethereal female vocals that appear (sung by the newest member of Bastard Noise, Leila Abdul Rauf from Saros/Amber Asylum), drifting through spiky feedback and sonic debris, gorgeous and deeply moving. There are stranger, warbling falsetto vocals that float hazily over the scorched wreckage of "Tyranny Beyond Earth". There's plenty of Wood's burly roars of course, and some seriously creepy hissing vocals too. But best of all, there are these impossibly deep death metal grunts that Eric Wood emits, usually in the dead space between the chunks of sound, and it's like hearing Chris Barnes from his days in Cannibal Corpse grunting over these crushing plasma blast dirges and manufactured glitchscapes. It's a whole new facet to Bastard Noise's sound that has turned them into this monstrously heavy abstract industrial thing, you can't call it noise, the label "noise" seems even more generic and useless here than usual, but it's not exactly industrial either, something strange and in-between. It's fucking awesome, that's the bottom line, and in my opinion, this is the best album that Bastard Noise has put out so far, a milestone in their long, challenging existence. If you haven't picked up on it yet, this is ESSENTIAL for Bastard Noise fans, and really anyone into heavy electronics needs to hear this.

And the packaging is pretty nuts. The disc comes in a regular jewel case, but inside you get a tick foldout poster insert that has that iconic skull all over the place, embossed in metallic gold ink and some very strange looking artwork, complete lyrics (with little asides that chart out the album's weird narrative), and along with the booklet you get a rad looking Bastard Noise sticker and four full-color cardstock inserts with weird, creepy computer graphics that illustrate the album's sci-fi concept. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!