Band:	Ygg
Album:	Ygg
Style:	Atmospheric black metal
Release date:	April 22, 2011
Guest review by:	Oaken

01. ...Знаю, висел я в ветвях на ветру...
02. YGG
03. Урд, Верданди, Скульд
04. Гимн природы
05. Кровь
06. Ритуал
07. ...Стеная, их поднял и с дерева рухнул...

If you're into atmospheric black metal, then you must at least have heard of the Russian band called Walknut. Yup, they're the ones who released a magnificent opus in 2007 and then went into hiding in the grim woods of the north. If you'd listened to that album and liked it back then, you would've drooled for more, but unfortunately, there WAS no more (at least till now). However, 4 years later - in 2011 a young Ukrainian band by the name of Ygg gave us something that brought back the long-lost moments of Walknut's Graveforests And Their Shadows.

Ygg's Ygg starts with an intro of strange sounds depicting something related to Ukrainian nature. After that, you get nearly an hour of excellently-executed and well-performed, minimalistic tremolo riffs, with some heavy, relentless bass lines and your typical black metal blast-beats. On the top of this fine blend, you get a less tortured Varg Vikerenes to do the screaming. Simple formula, yet effective.

You might have noticed that the instruments don't cross any borders. That is true, if you mean each instrument alone, but the overall sound of the music is simply amazing. Never have I heard anything so engulfing. The music captures the listener upon first contact and throws him into Ukrainian forests of endless beauty. Aided by some great, not-so-raw BM production, it never fails in what it's meant to do; Ygg's Ygg is nothing but a harmonious choir of trees singing with anger and misanthropy a la Burzum.

Despite all that, Ygg doesn't offer newness into the world of black metal. What it does - excellently - is recycle the old stuff into better material. But lack of originality in black metal is something not easily forgiven these days. Another weakness of this record is its length. It would have been okay if Ygg's effort was less minimalistic. Most songs are 9-10 minutes long, and are made up of 3-4 riffs. Might be boring for some, even if those riffs are actually of the highest quality.

The song titles are written in Ukrainian, which makes it difficult to judge the originality of the content. All the songs are equally good. The last track is a not-so-successful attempt at copying Drudkh's "First Snow". Nevertheless, it comes off decently. So, if you're a black metal fan, this must be one of your picks from 2011. It's one of the year's best, and a solid black metal album in general.