KOSKA

KOSKA can be compared to any or all of ITOIZ, ENBOR, MAGDALENA, SAKRE and LISKER, sometimes all at once, but unfortunately quality wise sit at the lower end of that range, substituting inspired wholeness with occasional piecemeal flashes of inspiration. It's fairly anonymous Mediterranean rock for the most part. While "Esnaera" and "Xurgatu Egin Zituzten" weigh in more favorably, it isn't until the closing number that they really hint at what might have been, doing their patriotic motives justice, and ending with the same measured heartbeat that began and christens the disk. Awesome acidic lead guitar here by the way.

Unless you are a Basque music sympathizer and need to have it all, I wouldn't beat a path to your nearest dealer in obscurities to corral this one.

Without speaking the Basque dialect of course, but looking at the front cover, this Psychedelic Rock album had to contain strong political lyrics, as the letters of the band's name build the form of the Basque flag.The style on the opening tracks is Heavy Psychedelic Rock with fuzz guitars and interplays with the acoustic ones, while the vocal arrangements are simply excellent.Later on the Folk elements become more prominent with more space for acoustic passages and light use of percussions and flutes every now and then, but the electric guitars still deliver some decent solos and lead the way.Not much of a great music quality, but everything in ''Koska'' is played with heart, while the vocals seems to be the stronger point of the band.

A good album next to files like EIDER, ERROBI or MAGDALENA.Recommended, especially if you are already into the Basque Psych/Folk/Prog scene of the 70's.