For the last decade, the Basque Country has been the stronghold of a fierce Black Metal crux enthralled on the place’s very own nature and mythos. Acts such as Nakkiga, Sentimen Beltza, Owl’s Blood and Ostots spawned a plenitude of releases unraveling depictions of death, nature and a nihilistic view on existentialism while musically painting a stream of intensely blazing Black Metal sound-wise reminiscent of the visuals therein portrayed.
Aforementioned Ostots have been establishing a vibrant and lavished body of work, an individualistic approach which took form 12 years ago and in formative years revealed an inflow of demos and split releases with close comrades. The release of Heriotzaren Bidezidorrak in 2011 showcased the evolution of the band, a glowing expression and essence which last year’s Hil Argi thoroughly confirmed.
The year of 2016 witnesses the return of Ostots with a brand new record entitled Ezer Ezaren Araztasuna, the purity of nothingness as a vast outflow of alluring aura. Epic and captivating, this full-length presents the Basque bastion in its ultimate craft, an imposing pallet of heathen fierceness and exalting nobleness. Exploring the overall aesthetics of death, the nothingness and the primitive urges and inspirations of enduring nature, Ezer Ezaren Araztasuna is strikingly effective and absorbing in its capacity of propelling the listener to walk the path of the wolf.
Melodic, grandiose and intrepid, desolated sketches of wooden forests and forgotten winds are beheld by harsh ravishing vocals and an imperious wall of heretic guitar riffs perpetuated alongside an austerely virtuous rhythm section shifting through fast and mid-paced sections. A sheer highlight on this record, the grandiose layer of keyboards varnish a plethora of bleak landscapes and desolated horizons, the supreme veil of foreboding, sinuous overtones which incite the listener to attain outside limits and go beyond the boundaries of standardized, dormant civilization. (text by MS)
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Mixed and mastered by Mixed by Travis Nordahl (El-Ahrairah, Vorde).
New press. Transparent vinyl with black smoke.
