Mgła - Presence / Power and Will

MGŁA - Presence / Power and Will (NORTHERN HERITARE - LP 2013)

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