### Mgła: Presence

#### 16/01/13 || sincan

I guess you by now are quite familiar with the fact that I tend to like Mgła’s music. Then you also know what to expect from these guys. However, “Presence” is their first EP, with the length of just under twenty minutes, and it is a bit more trve cvlt in the sense of production and song structures. When I say trve kvlt here I mean as in more primitive compared to their later offerings. I would say that this EP sounds more like being inspired by typical straight forward Nordic lo-fi black metal while their later material is somehow interweaving other elements and inspiration sources along with a more advanced production.

Before you take a listen I must warn you about what I said previously in this review. The differences in their sound is not of major relevance, nor is it really that big which one might expect. But the difference is there, and one would be surprised if it wasn’t. Still, there is no doubt about which band that is decolorizing the environment into dark gray with the help of you speakers The characteristic bone milling guitars along with the harsh vocals of M. are there. But the vocals are also a bit in the same manners as the entire EP, more harsher and trve kvlt. If the differences in vocals are because of some (slightly) other way of singing or if it is because of some effects and the production is not something I will go into. Again, there is no doubts about who is delivering the music.

I still have some more things to say about the production so stay put if you give a shit. Something that bothers me is the drums, well the cymbals are fine, but the snare and the bass drum aren’t all ace. This gets mostly obvious in the last track “III”, especially in the intro. It sounds as if the drums are filled with foam or being used under water/semen and this doesn’t mix into the rest of the music that well. This problem tends to go away in the faster parts of this EP, the faster parts also tend to be the better ones. Also worth mentioning is that the bass guitar is, as usually with Mgła, audible and thus gives a thicker sound.

I know that I haven’t written that much about the song’s structures and how they sound in other terms than production wise, but if you know your Mgła you can add up this yourself with the fact that this EP is somewhat more straightforward and more primitive than their later material. If With hearts toward none didn’t grab your attention I would say that this EP will not do it either and if you still haven’t listened to Mgła I wouldn’t suggest you to start with “Presence” either. If you can’t get enough of polish black metal, well, get it.

- Information
- Released: 2006
- Label: Northern Heritage Records
- Website: www.no-solace.com
- Band
- M.: vocals, guitars, bass
- Daren: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. I
- 02. II
- 03. III