Saturday, January 27, 2024

Entry 662 - Mgla - Mdłości + Further Down the Nest


Style: Black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: The filth that is humanity, tranquility through nothingness

Thoughts: I'm not sure what led me to put this one on the turntable today. Mgla is a band I rarely listen to, but for whatever reason today I wanted to listen to them, all be it in a short burst. This EP compilation is perfect for that.

Mdłości sees Mgla at perhaps their best. The band has a sense of urgency here that is rare in their discography. The riffs do repeat quite a bit, but the major difference is the variance in their presentation. One bar the drums will be going slow, then they will switch up on the next meter to something completely different. 

This accomplishes a few things: variance through simplicity as well as allowing the riff to travel more than it would with the same drum beat. Towards the end of Mdłości I there is a small fill that is then accompanied by a double time on the bass drums. It's a small change but the riff becomes even more intense because of it. The two songs are full of small touches like this. 

Further Down the Nest is more traditional Mgla. The riffs are rather stagnant as are the drums. They draw me in though in different ways than Mdłości. While the riffs are more repetitious, they are also more hypnotic and hit that delicate balance of knowing when to move on before overstaying their welcome.

Both EP's are short, both EP's are a great listen. Whenever I need a Mgla fix this is the record I pull out most frequently. It doesn't hit very often but it does these 20 minutes are enough for me to get my fill.

Written January 15th 2024


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