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BASTARD NOISE  Galactic Sanitarium  LP   (Haunted Hotel)   19.99
Galactic Sanitarium IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR ORDER

Ever since they released the Rogue Astronaut album, Bastard Noise has been evolving from its longtime "caveman electronics" sound into a much heavier and more riff-based beast that brought back a lot of the proggy powerviolence of Man Is The Bastard, the legendary hardcore band that more or less transformed into this more experimental and electronic-based project headed up by member Eric Wood in the early 90s. As amazing (and skull-crushing) as all of the more recent Bastard Noise material has been, I've actually been hungering for some of the projects extreme black-hole industrial noise lately, and this super-limited Lp on Haunted Hotel fills that demand nicely.

This Lp features two side-long tracks, the first being "Mechanized Apparatus Revolt", an abstract electronic soundscape filled with BN mastermind Eric Wood's signature oscillator abuse. bestial roars and chirping space-locust electronics, a deep rumbling resonance lurking beneath the entire piece as the band splatters a variety of trippy, abrasive noise, gong-like percussion, doomed war-drums and corrosive effects overhead. Definitely more minimal and restrained compared to the level of blow-out that a lot of Bastard Noise stuff can get, but there's still quite a bit of kosmische menace smoldering at the heart of "Revolt"'s squealing apocalyptic deathdrift.

On the other side, "Cyborg Quarantine Compromise" unfolds into a vast expanse of dark cosmic ambience, distant droning whirr and humming black synthesizers diffused into the stygian depths while alien chirps and mewling electronics drift up out of the chasm. It's also one of the prettiest sounding Bastard Noise tracks I've heard in awhile, with some gorgeous passages of gleaming otherworldly ambience surfacing among the more abrasive and menacing sounds.

Limited to three hundred copies.