BASTALK REVIEW
- Michael Hojjatie
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 5 hours ago
BASTALAK - BLOOD OF ZAGROS
Without a demarcated homeland and of Kurdish heritage, newcomer Bastalak is an dedicating their passion for black metal to the struggle of their kinfolk and their ancestry dating all the way back to the Medes of Persia well before the Abrahamic religions spread far and wide and their ongoing fight to regain sovereignity after centuries of backstabbing and betrayal.
Bursting with emotion and a raw speed tremolo advance is "The Cost of Resilience" and Qandil clearly showing his yearning for a future for his people through his fervent vocals. Meaning "freedom" in several Indo-Iranian languages, "Azadì" is exactly the anthem to motivate with it's hynoptic fast riffs almost giving a leitmotif type of sensation. Short and icy, the instrumental "Winter's Grip Upoh Halgurd" may as well have appeared on Aske all those years ago for it pays plenty of homage to that era of long-faded black metal obscurity before in blasts into the tremolo and skinbashing thunderous bloodbath of "Boundless Solar Veneration". To close the EP is a song with a title that couldn't possibly be more true to black metal's nature which is "Rebirth of Ancestral Triumph" and at over seven minutes changes tempo, has more than enough fills on the battery, and a slight hint of melodic tightness at moment to fire up Qandil's people's passion to reclaim what was once theirs.
Committed to the ongoing goal of eventually establish a Kurdish nation after setback and strife has been in their way, Bastalak's rage-fueled raw blackness can only embolden amd galvanize them further down this path. For glory and for motherland, Bastalak have come to sacrifice and martyr their blood for their sacred ancestral soil!
8/10
(Self-released digitally with limited cassettes on Banner of Blood)