OSTOTS – EZER EZAREN ARAZTASUNA LP (Altare Productions / Skjold)

‘Ezer Ezaren Araztasuna’ – another Ostots album title that I will never utter. I used Google Translate to find out what it means but I’ll never be able to pronounce it, remember it or spell it. Copy-and-paste serves me well in these instances. Anyhow, the third full-length from IA under this banner is utterly superb in every conceivable way, proving to me that Ostots just keeps on getting better.

The music and vocals (especially) and the general vibe seems like at least a slight departure from his previous work, although I’m not sure in exactly what way (and am too lazy to contemplate the subtle nuances further; besides it hardly matters).

This album is a really solid, confident, definitive statement – epic and glorious in an almost Slavonic sense but nevertheless suitably evil and raw and undeniably underground. A clear step-up from the first two full-lengths, which were in themselves pretty sensational.

It’s partly because of the quality of artists like Ostots that there appears to be an explosion in the popularity of underground Black Metal at the moment. There are probably other reasons too. I don’t know if this is still available but there is sure to be a repress and it’s certainly a record that is worthy of its place in any collection. Get it when you can.

Evilometer: 666/666