LATEST NEWS:Thanks to all who came to see us at the Wave Gothik Treffen, still the best Gothik festival in the world!
Review of the show here
OSTARA - THE ONLY SOLACE released January 16th 2009. NONPOP REVIEWInterviews with Ostara in the new editions of Orkus, Ascension and Rockerilla magazines
Ostara now on Facebook
Ostara return to their folk roots with "The Only Solace" due for limited edition CD and 22 track online release in January 2009 on TRISOL MUSICLive report from the MLB festival MadridAVAILABLE NOW: the OSTARA and STRENGTH THROUGH JOY back catalogues on eMusic and iTunes
DEATH IN JUNE presents KAPO! has now been re-released by Soleilmoon Recordings
RICHARD LEVIATHAN has contributed an exclusive chapter to the book, Gothik 3 published by Schwartzkopf & Schwartzkopf
REVIEWS:'It was a blessing to read that ”OSTARA will return to their folky roots” and the months between that message and the release of ”The Only Solace” was months filled with expectations and tingling hope. After they released some sample songs, I could finally exhale again. And now with the album carefully tucked into the CD shelf, I’m pretty sure that the album of the year is already upon us'.
"Another neo-folk masterpiece from Richard Leviathan and friends, Ostara's latest release continues their tradition of provocative lyrics backed by deceptively gentle melodies." (ReGen Magazine)
"After two excursions into the field of alternative guitar rock, the British-Australian formation around Richard Leviathan has remembered its true strengths and, with 'The Only Solace', has produced a breathtakingly beautiful neofolk album which catapults OSTARA right back to the spearhead of the genre."'Evocative titles, intellectually stimulating poetry, strong melodies, a feel for language, smooth clear voices and a polished professional sound characterise the work of Ostara, and point to a potential for commercial success beyond the narrow world of the neofolk/gothic-industrial genres that mostly concern us here'. (FluxEuropa)Ostara have been able to render historical topics like resistance movements in The Third Reich into acccessible, yet intelligent folk-pop songs' (Will Stone, Terrorizer Magazine)
Ostara have contributed an exclusive track, 'If the Dead Could See' to the European edition of the score for the motion picture SAW II (Charlie Clouser)"Richard Leviathan began his musical career working with Douglas P. of Death in June who produced the first two Strength Through Joy albums between 1995-6. Ostara was born in 2000 with Leviathan taking his music towards a more pop oriented direction that began with the album 'Secret Homeland' followed by 'Kingdom Gone' in 2002 whose first track 'Bavaria' has become something of a hit in the European Neofolk and Gothic scene. In 2003, Ostara released 'Ultima Thule', a more rock and metal oriented album that began to push the boundaries of their original Neofolk roots.
"Ostaras roots date back to 1995 when the band was founded under the moniker Strength through Joy. From 1995 to 1999 the band played neo folk styled music, but then decided to change the name to Ostara, and along with the name the music style change quite a bit as well...an interesting sort of rock, metal-ish, darkwave styled music with some slight 80s influences. Richard wrote all the songs on Ultima Thule and his commanding vocals with a strong English accent lead the way, and his interesting if not somewhat ambiguous lyrics will make you think. " (Lunar Hypnosis)
