siLLy puPPy The Basque regions of Spain and France aren’t widely known around the world except for the rare interest of linguists who have deemed the Basque language as an isolate not related to any other. Basque metal likewise hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm either but with decades of separatist tendencies and a constant tension brewing between the nation states that the Basque people find themselves in, it only makes logical sense that angsty extreme metal would crop up in that part of the world.

While i couldn’t name a single Basque metal band before, now i can! OSTOTS is the one-man atmospheric black metal project of IA which was started as far back in 2004 near the city of Bilbao. With an endless stream of EPs and splits, OSTOTS has certainly been no stranger to deepest recesses of the metal underground and returns in 2022 with his fourth full-length album MADARIKAZIOA which is Basque for “The Curse.”

Interesting that this album is not available as a digital download and so far released on vinyl only but fear not insatiable black metal addicts who find their pockets devoid of ca$h, this one is on YouTube for all to enjoy. I’m not familiar with OSTOTS so have no reference to compare previous works but according to record label Altare, MADARIKAZIOA follows in the path of “Lainoak Estaltzen Duena & Hilda Jaio tracks (from the split LP with Gaua).” What that means is a rampaging style of buzzsaw guitars, inaudible bass, consistent atmospheric key changes and ferocious drumming that shows major skill.

The black metal aspects are more in the depressive department but unlike most in that category, OSTOTS employs quickened tempos and that classic pissed cat vocal rage that reminds me of early Negura Bunget amongst others. The riffing offers a bit of groove as well with a more angry version of black’n’roll but the overall atmosphere of the album is dark and depressing with caustic tones and furious rage stampeding across the soundscape with eerie detached keyboards offering the final depressive icing on the cake. The production seems to find that perfect balance between lo-fi second wave and the bit more polished of the 21st century.

Overall this is quite the enjoyable black metal album even if not reinventing the wheel in any way. In many ways as generic as the album cover art yet i’m a sucker for extremely effectively executed extreme metal with above average instrumental interplay. The attention paid to the varying tones, timbres, tempos, distortion, vocal phrasing etc conspire to infect your soul with an extremely well crafted atmospheric black metal experience. OSTOTS is the real deal and i couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to the world of Basque flavored black metal than MADARIKAZIOA.