Register Forgot login?

© 2002-2024
Encyclopaedia Metallum

Privacy Policy

Mgła > Presence > Reviews
Mgła - Presence

Power and Will - 75%

dismember_marcin, July 7th, 2019

All of a sudden Mgła became one of the most popular black metal bands nowadays. This is mainly due to such albums as “Groza” and “Exercises in Futility”. But here I would like to write few words about their two earliest recordings, which luckily were re-released in shape of 12" LP compilation back in 2013. It was great to have this vinyl released, as earlier I did not have a chance to get these two recordings in their original pressings.

Going in chronological order, first we have material titled "Power and Will", recorded way back in 2003. It originally appeared on "Crushing the Holy Trinity" split, which along Mgła consisted a fantastic line up with Clandestine Blaze, Deathspell Omega, Musta Surma, Stabat Mater and Exordium. They are the earliest Mgła recordings, and I think that these four tracks can push away "newer" black metal fans with its primitive, ugly and very harsh sound and negativity. There's already a bit of melody in these songs, but generally their style is closer to the black metal second wave origins, to that classic, simplistic Darkthrone'ish raw style. And well, even if this recording isn't as good as some of the later Mgła offerings, it's still a damn worthy piece of black metal. Sure, the production could have been a bit better - but it's not terrible either. And these songs do bring some absolutely excellent riffs, like the opening part of "Power and Will II and IV", I absolutely love this cold, hateful atmosphere of this music. Songs' structures are simple, there's nothing really surprising or very impressive about them, but it's a solid stuff and a good beginning for Mgła.

2006 brought us the second part of this LP, "Presence" EP. It's a natural continuation of "Power and Will", so "Presence" is also a harsh, traditional black metal, but the production is a bit better, cleaner and songs have already a strong melodic feel. The atmosphere on this EP is absolutely fantastic, it's cold, ghastly, sinister and the music fantastically combines the classic black metal harshness with quite memorable melodic guitar lines. M's vocals improved a lot, his ideas on these three songs are better, more interesting, so "Presence" beats "Power and Will" in every aspect. There's aggression, obscurity here, but also a bit of melancholy and sorrow in the melodic lines. All in all, absolutely great recording, actually one of my favourites from this band together with their two 7 inches from the same period of time.

“For man shall sin and not repent!”

Standout tracks: "Presence I", “Presence II”, “Power and Will IV”
Verdict: 75/100

Aggressive enough but needs more focus - 65%

NausikaDalazBlindaz, January 8th, 2015

The first official release for this Polish BM band, way back in 2006, "Presence" does what it promises in announcing Mgła as a new force in black metal. The style of music showcased here oozes confidence, no tentative tip-toeing around here, with a fresh crisp sound and bucket-loads of enthusiasm, energy and attitude problems about the nature of humanity and its future trajectory.

The EP is divided into three parts of unequal length - unusually perhaps, the first two tracks are both nearly twice as long as the third track. Listeners might be scratching their heads and wondering why but let's take the band at face value, these guys should know what they're doing. Track 1 drips with plenty of bite, sarcasm and maybe cynicism about humankind as the powerful music surges forward with slashing, crackling riffs, constantly running tremolo guitar and drums that champ at the bit, impatient to run away with thunderous tom-tom rolls. The pace is actually quite relaxed as though these guys have all the time in the world to unleash their brand of aggression. The musicianship sounds quite loose as though the players haven't quite rehearsed long enough and often enough to be able to anticipate one another's intentions. The drumming especially sounds a bit all over the joint which could have resulted in disaster but on a track like this where the melodies and riffing can be repetitive and even a little monotonous, the looseness actually becomes an asset that provides some variety.

Part 2 starts aggressively but quickly runs out of steam with the slow pace set by the drumming so it's down to the harsh vocals to maintain the rage while tremolo guitar riffs grind away and the percussion packs in rolls and frills. There's some virtuoso skin-work here but I wonder if this is not detracting from the aggression and anger that I suspect the band really wants to build up with those vibrato riffs and the venomous vocals. As a result the song can seem a bit unfocused and new riffs or changes of key into the music suggest a loss of direction rather than new developments stemming naturally from what came before.

The sharp electricity sparking out of Part 3 is bright enough and promises something not heard so far. Once the voices weigh in though, it's as if the band had merely paused for breath after Part 2 and the guys are just picking up where they left off. In spite of the sparkling riffing, things seem confused and a bit bogged down especially near the end where echo effects appear, more for their novelty than anything they might offer that improves the track.

While these guys have a great sound and a straightforward melodic black metal style, here they're in need of a bit of group discipline to steer their energy into composing slightly tighter songs and to coordinate their enthusiasm and obvious technical skills so that the music they produce has more focus, more aggression and more intensity. There's a time and place for loose, even sloppy playing, but when a young band is out to impress audiences and labels with its style and a particular message, the improvisation has to be shelved a bit.

Excellent release - 100%

Hubster, August 17th, 2006

I came across this Polish band by "accident", and found they seem to have an affiliation with Mikko Aspa of Clandestine Blaze and Deathspell Omega, having appeared on the Crushing The Holy Trinity compilation released earlier this year on Northern Heritage records.

With Satanic lyrical themes, "Presence" is split into three tracks (I, II, III) with each one seemingly being an extension (or somewhat modified recital) of the previous. It's ice-cold hateful Satanic Black Metal, fuelled with chainsaw guitars, slicing tremolos and thin snowblasted yet ominous vocals.

The simple ingredients above make for an outstanding and essential Black Metal release: it's delivered honestly and directly as you expect true Black Metal to do: no flamboyant drum fills, solos or electronics, things are kept raw, simple, yet undeniably powerful. MGLA don't break new ground, but masterfully execute their music with a style that is certainly their own.

The Presence EP is under-produced enough to not sound like a demo, and clean enough to not sound over-professional (think of a colder production of Weakling's "Dead As Dreams" album). The production balance sits perfectly over the musical structure, and the snarled vocals cut through the thick textured wall of drums and guitars on each verse. Beautiful.

I highly recommend this EP (and band) to any Black Metal enthusiast, as judging from their small amount of available material, MGLA could gather a strong following with their established, yet somewhat unique style that plays no games with what it attempts to achieve.

MGLA also have Mdlosci (EP) available, but I haven't been able to find this one on mCD - it appears that this release has so far been vinyl only. The band are currently preparing for their first full length in early 2007, and I for one will be keeping a sharp eye open for that release.

In summary, an extremely worthy addition to any Black Metal collection. Outstanding work.

Official Site:
http://hatepropaganda.org/mgla/