siLLy puPPy Kharkiv, Ukraine is quite the prolific nook of Eastern European black metal with many bands emerging from its proximity however a closer look will yield the discovery that many of the same artists are involved in many different band projects and the atmospheric black metal YGG is the perfect example. This band so far has released one self-titled album which emerged in 2011 and has remained silent ever since. This is basically a side project of Nokturnal Mortem with bassist / vocalist Vrolok and drummer Odalv hooking up with the newbie / vocalist / guitarist Helg to create a slice of repetitive yet hypnotic atmospheric black metal unlike Nokturnal Mortum and more in the vein of the Russian band Walknut.

Yes, this is a trio but despite only bass, drums, guitars and vocals listed on most credits, there is also plenty of other sounds including something called the vargan or Russian Jew’s harp in intros especially in the annoyingly long 5 minute intro of the album which should be a dead giveaway as it reminds me of Nokturnal Mortem’s equally long intro on “Goat Horns.” Likewise since this is atmospheric black metal there are lots of keyboards albeit kept in the backdrop. Credits are unknown but they are so simply played that anyone could pull off the task of performing them making the identity of the musician irrelevant. The term YGG is interesting. In the Urban Dictionary it is an abbreviation of “You Go Girl” while another musical group of the same name is a trio of MCs that is short for: You Get Grime or You Grime Gods. This one is probably short for Yggdrasil.

Not much to say about this album. If you are familiar with atmospheric black metal then you’ve heard all this before. While the subject matter is Pagan in nature, the lyrics are unintelligible with the usually raspy screams emerging from the din. The musical flow is a lot like early Burzum with a focus on a stream of hypnotic flow of atmospheric black metal bombast rather than any sort of actual diversity in how the composiitons proceed. Unlike many black metal albums the bass and guitar are clearly separated into their own while the vocals are sort of frantic like early Summoning. The atmospheric elements are only audible during the more subdued moments but are present throughout the album’s hour plus 4 minute run. This album is often considered the unofficial followup to Walknut’s one and only album “Graveforests And Their Shadows” which came out in 2007 although there is no relationship other than the stylistic similarities.

YGG created a mixed bag of an album for my tastes. Everything is perfectly executed with the subdued tremolo picked energetic outbursts, better than usual percussive bombast and by the books screamed vocal outbursts but in the end nothing about this album really stands out from the legion of black metal bands that have come and gone over the years. There is nothing remotely epic as heard on Nokturnal Mortem’s best offerings however this is an interesting album in that despite the lack of creativity perfectly exhibits an atmospheric black metal approach that is flawless in its execution and therefore offers a perfect hypnotic trance inducing hour’s worth of atmospheric black metal hypnagogic splendor. Slightly better than average but not exactly a classic either. YGG needed to find some ways of differentiated itself from the multitude of Burzum copycats. Didn’t happen except for maybe a bit more intensity.