Groza

This is the debut album for this polish black metal band. Unlike their following albums, this one is way slower, colder and elegant, almost of the depressive suicidal type (but not quite there ) The drumming is very sparse and simple, with a lot of tasteful double kick-drum fills and tremolo picking, and delightfully simplistic in style without being primitive; even the solos sound like riffs if you know what I mean.

The guitarwork is very good; on side A, both songs -which average 17' each !!! there's clearly a treblier lead guitar on the left channel and a rhythmic, fuller-sounding one on the right channel. This led me to think there was some kind of imbalance, but I was proven wrong by my instruments (VU and several other signal level meters on my rig) They are at the same relative volume, only playing different tones and roles. This side is so cold and atmospheric I could picture icicles forming around my speakers.

On side B the pace of the music picks up, with moderation. Music is still cold, still no breakneck speeds of any sort, but noticeably more uptempo. First song ¨III¨ has luckily a more audible rhythm guitar on the right channel, and the album closer ¨IV¨ features a furious, full-on double-ax, trebley tremolo attack , ending the album furiously.

As on most Polish extreme metal record, production is very polished -pun intended- to the point of sterility, as a Darkthrone fan would say, but I appreciated it. I mean, why hire a gazillion-dollar studio to make a record sound as if it had been recorded in a grave ? That has always been beyond me. I am one of those guys who wished Transilvanian Hunger were re-recorded properly. This is a very interesting MGLA record (it's pronounced mgwa in Polish) IMHO of course. These guys have very interesting aesthetics, live, they all dress exactly alike : black pants, black combat boots, a hoodie with a black biker jacket and a black mask covering all of their heads; kind of an evil, black metal Devo.

The packaging is of the highest quality, perfectly printed cardboard, with poly-lined black paper inner sleeves (no inserts though). The pressing is practically flawless, clean as a lab 140 grs slab of wax, a rare occurrence with current vinyl, especially of the domestic varieties. There is a slight eccentricity to side 1 though, invisible to my eyes, but sonically apparent in that it produced a faint ¨thunk¨ per rev on the dead wax, but it didn't detract from my high-volume listening experience. Strangely enough, MGLA records are only available to me on vinyl in my country so I added this one and ¨With Hearts Towards None¨ to my collection.

I did enjoy the album, but didn't ¨love¨ it -don't need to really- hence only 80%.

Mgła have tread so far since the release of the debut that it's impossible to look at Groza the same way. What was a menacing and restrained black metal record now strikes me as more of a stepping stone. With Hearts Toward None may have taken its time to warm up on me, but I now share the popular consensus that it is, indeed, an instant classic for this grey and dreary genre. For such a distinctive-sounding band, Mgła are deceptively simple in their approach. The ominous mid-paced riffs and dynamic drumwork that characterize Mgła were virtually there from the start. Even if I think it pales in comparison to the two (so far) albums that followed it, there's no doubt that Groza's been forged from that same well of despair and misanthropy.

I listened to With Hearts Toward None and Exercises in Futility ceaselessly before delving in this band's earlier catalogue. Although I'd had a solid taste of their work years ago circa the Crushing the Holy Trinity they collaborated with a few bands (not least of all Deathspell Omega) at the relative start of their career, I was resistant to the band's hype until relatively recently. In any case, I think many people approaching Groza at this point will have, like myself, heard the latter stuff before looking back. Although it shouldn't stand as a definitive description of the album, it is very much the way you'd expect a less-refined Mgła to sound: repetitive and riff-centered. Ugly, though vaguely melodic. Well-performed, but roughly mixed. I have a lot of respect for any band that are able to find a distinctive sound from the first album onwards. Mgła absolutely accomplished this; they were just playing that style at a less-developed level than they're known for now.

Although there's no point where the album strikes me as a masterpiece, "Groza I" and "IV" stand as inspired slabs of modern black metal, within or without their band's context. Although the transition from this to With Hearts Toward None is most apparent in the latter's clearer production, Mgła's craft with riffs is less overtly melodic on Groza. I have a lot of respect for the way Mikołaj Żentara creates self-contained earworms with most of the riffs he writes. Although the leads aren't as audible in the mix as they could have been, Mgła's oppressive rhythms are about as powerful here as they'd ever be. Beyond the trademark atmosphere and their well-written riffs, it's the interplay between Żentara and Maciej "Darkside" Kowalski that sets them apart from so many of their contemporaries. The repetition of many of these riffs never ever feels that apparent; if a riff is steady, you can rest assured that Darkside's shifting drum patterns are shedding new lights on the riff as the music marches on.

The production isn't the best it could be, but that's nothing to hold against a black metal band in the throes of beginning their ascent. Mgła had not mastered their style come Groza, nor did they manage their compositions with the same tact I'd come to expect on later works. But it should be known that the trademark Mgła style was already here in droves. Even if the band had broken up shortly after Groza, I think their distinctive, groove-based approach would have set them a niche of their own. It can only be a good thing we got to hear Mgła make due on the promise they made on Groza.

After their first EP, "Presence", which was an enthusiastic if scatter-shot effort and some other short releases, Mgła debuted their first full-length album "Groza" in 2012. Having heard this a few times now, I can say this is a more focused recording than "Presence" - the musicians have honed their style into a definite weapon with a keener edge, with more collective energy powering it from behind. They still manage to preserve some of their earlier idiosyncrasies: the drummer still likes his drum rolls and other flourishes but he now pours more of his fire into hammering out a faster rhythm and pace. In fact everyone in the band has a turn at demonstrating a high level of technical skill. The band's sound is clearer and less distorted, and there is a greater emphasis on melody.

"Groza" (Polish for "horror") divides into four parts that are a minimum 7 minutes in length and sometimes longer, allowing the music in all tracks room to develop and find its path. "Groza I" sets the mood and the pace with a style that is equal parts folk-inspired and militaristic; there is plenty of room for the drummer to mix his rhythms and other trademarks while the guitarists concentrate on laying down pop-friendly riffs and melodies. The vocals are the weakest part of the song given that it's very lengthy: there is hardly any variation in the vocal range or in emotion. At least the song comes to a climax with frantic percussion and ends very decisively. "Groza II" is speedier and harsher, with a darker and more foreboding mood. This is a more straightforward BM track with unexpected moments of stark blues melancholy.

The diversion into slower, more lumbering territory in "Groza III" initially seems ill-advised - the burden of carrying the song is thrown onto the vocal which really fights to be heard above the guitars and drums. The track later perks up with a faster pace and robust sticks work. The outro track returns to the rollicking folk BM of the first track which completes a cycle suggesting no escape from this particular brand of dark existential terror.

This is a good if not really great recording with more discipline than Mgła's earlier "Presence" effort. Some editing for length on the longer tracks could have been done to make the album even tighter: parts of the fourth track get a bit stodgy and the mood does not change very much. The vocals need to be more upfront and varied in range and emotion to match the guitars and drumming - perhaps a second vocalist or alternation between grim BM vocals and clean-toned vocals could have provided the variety and interest. If the band wants to appeal to a more mainstream metal audience as well as an underground audience then the singing needs some work.

Eventually with more releases and experience in playing live, Mgła will find a balance between focused, melodic music with broad appeal and a more aggressive style with sharp percussion improvisation that attracts a more hardcore BM audience.

Mgła, Mgla, or even MGLA, are a band who’s name I cannot pronounce and struggle to understand how it’s spelled, seeming as people feel inclined to change the spelling every so often. The underground is a haven for eclipsed and enigmatic bands but this Polish act, who have enjoyed much success before the arrival of ‘Groza‘, have managed to rise above the struggling influx of less suspenseful bands. Fans of extreme underground music have harped on about Mgła since the dawn of their creation, stating that they will become one of the most significant acts in modern black metal folklore due to their incredible spirit and style. Having heard ‘Presence’ before this full-length effort, ‘Groza’ (which means ‘dread’ in English) I can say that the reaction to Mgła’s earliest material is certainly hyperbolic. I did enjoy their EP’s, most of which I heard after hearing ‘Groza‘, but I cannot say that I haven’t heard far superior bands to this Polish two man effort. ‘Groza’, thankfully, has hit the heights that some of the previous material didn’t but I won’t be judging this on the basis of what has gone before it as full-lengths are a step up in quality.

What with having ties to much hyped and much loved fellow Polish bands such as Kriegsmaschine (who I am not that fond of) and Massemord (who I am particularly fond of), one was waiting in anticipating for ‘Groza’, which was released over the summer of 2008. Signed to major record label Northern Heritage also added an extra sense of anticipation, which was steadily mounting. The pressure was firmly positioned on the shoulders of the members of Mgła to perform and thankfully, as stated, this record has hit unprecedented heights that perhaps previous material may have struggled to do in the past. There are some notable changes to the style of Mgła, who have increased the importance of production, which is thankfully much improved from previous outings, where the material was immersed in an intoxicating fuzz. ‘Groza’ however, although different in terms of production values, hasn’t lost any of the magic that the previous releases may have had, in terms of the production, which is much more accessible to modern day listeners. As black metal has evolved from a sub-genre of heavy metal, with it’s lo-fi production and blizzard like distortion, the standards have risen and expectations on elements like the production have changed. Although fans of the genre may have accepted the lo-fi nature of the production, the majority of fans seem to be swaying towards improved standards in terms of quality.

This improvement doesn’t just exist in one form either, instrumentally, this Polish act have shown a degree of maturity in terms of song writing. ‘Groza’ is covered by a captivating production style, which doesn’t tend to rely too heavily on any specific element of the instrumentation. In the past, Mgła have perhaps seen the guitars as the most imperative aspect of modern day black metal and thus, whilst improving the standards of the guitar sections, the rest of the instrumentation has inevitably been let down. That is not the case with ‘Groza’. The bass, even, which is often left out in the cold on black metal records, is submerged in a sunny production that offers a fascinating contrast in soundscapes. Although the production may be airy and light on this effort, unlike on previous efforts, it allows the instrumentation to solely do the work in terms of creating the diversities in sound. For example, the guitars, which still do contain the blizzard like tremolo effects, are used to firmly establish the ‘evil’ atmospheric tendencies, which plague the listener throughout by increasing a sense of destructive imagery and reflective patterns. The vocals are pretty standard and don’t tend to stick out much, but Mgła are all about the instrumentation, using tight percussion, interesting bass lines that like to dominate and special guitars, which bring the most splendor to the soundscapes.

Although negatives do exist (the largely redundant vocals and such), they don’t dominate in any sense of the word and I can easily see a horde of onrushing black metal fans, with their armory, battle paint (or corpse paint if you prefer) and raised swords ready to fight for and worship this Mgła record if it were to ever come under intense scrutiny. Having had many chances to listen to ‘Groza’, I can’t see that it will. The effective use of bass which, as stated, likes to take control on occasions, as well as being very diverse and interesting, those spectacular driving guitars (which are particularly inspired on ‘Groza IV’ which uses twin guitars to stunning effect), the distorted blizzard fest is mystically blissful and sounds like any fantasy novel reads, with a special atmospheric aura. Perhaps less importantly, despite the rather redundant vocals, the lyrics express a complexity that the instrumentation might not and delivers a poetical view of the lyrical themes.

“The lowest common denominator is crowned.
Standpoints are chosen over general reason.
Stars allocated to every man and woman.
Fair measure of futile love and will.

Fortresses of blissful unconsciousness.
Anywhere between Aquinas and Descartes.

Blazing a trail as shown, as told, over the exact same traces.
Crawling in circles with face in dirt and spirit skyhigh.”

Highly rated for a reason.