Rating: 8.5/10
Release: 1 July 2023
Label: Independent

Yarga is a young folk pagan metal band that combines elements of popular Russian folklore and a heavy, powerful sound. With their songs, the band brings the forgotten epoch in the life of Ancient Russia, using both historical facts and folk tales about the life of Slavic people, their attitude to life, nature and traditions.
The Russian formation first started its musical journey in 2017 with the fine three-track EP “Мы идем на Царьград” (“We’re marching on Constantinople”), and the title track of the EP actually got very good success on YouTube, despite the other songs still lying in the underground today, mostly because it is not spread well enough on music streaming platforms, plus the band is keeping their releases independent. It is now 2023 when the band has put up its new debut album “Когда на небе живёт солнце” (“When the sun lives in the sky”) and this time the music is getting more power-ish while still keeping the eye opened on the more folky part. Despite this new release being just a bit more than 30 minutes long, most of the tracks feature a very fast rhythm and the riffs are kept very energetic too. The seven tracks fill our ears with four and five minutes of solid guitar riffing and powerful clean vocals per track, as well as a bunch of bagpipe riffs and flute which are giving the folkier mark to the songs.
The first track “Stribog” welcomes us with a short introduction of bagpipes and flutes; a short pause and a stronger bagpipe riff, supported by drums, follow soon after it. Another short pause, before getting into the core of the song. This time we have electric guitars and keyboard sounds. In the first strophe there is a prevalence of vocals and bagpipes whereas in the second part we have a very long guitar solo. This track is very varied so let’s see what’s in store for us next.
The second track “Брячина” is a bit simpler than the previous, starting with a power-ish guitar riff and the common bagpipes, followed by the double leading vocals made by singer Vladislav Krivoshein “Yar” and by another short guitar and bagpipe solo.
The album follows with the third instrumental track “Когда на небе просыпается солнце” (“When the sun wakes up in the sky”) and here the band shows its great potential of creating unique powerful and sweet melodies by taking advantage of all their instruments, even without the help of vocals.
The fourth track “Неси меня, Вороной”, is personally my favorite of the whole album. What I like about it is the ability to keep the listener breathless for two minutes straight without vocals, amongst interludes and fast solos, which is exactly what is happening during the song’s second half.
After the fifth slower track “Леля” there is finally space for the most power-ish part of the album. Sixth and seventh track is where the band gets the fastest with the tempos but still manages to preserve the common folk-and-guitars formula: the band keeps the right balance between both elements even in the fastest moments, and this is what we shall expect from a “folk-metal” band.
Despite its shortness, this is a very well-made album and I sincerely hope it manages to turn cards upside down positively for the band. There are just too many underground metal works and bands that need to be discovered in all their greatness and Yarga is certainly one of them. I also recommend checking their previous EP for more goodness and, why not, keeping your eyes on them for some future surprises…

Tracklist

1. Stribog 06:02
2. Bryachina 03:37
3. Kogda na nebe prosypayetsya solntse 03:33
4. Nesi menya, voronoy 05:36
5. Lelya 04:48
6. Ty leti, strela 04:21
7. Kolyada 04:50