It is always a curiosity for me to see a band name appear twice on the main page and I think the last time that this happened was when I was riding along with "Vestiges" back in 2012. That adventure was pre-planned however, but this one came as an unexpected surprise.
Gig took place on September 18th in "Dom Omladine" ("Youth Center") in Belgrade. Truth be told, I haven't been there since 2017 when I saw "Alcest" play, something that I completely failed to review which is actually bad because their concert was excellent. In the back of my mind I'm thinking about doing a late review of all those shows I didn't talk about, but we'll see, that's a topic for another occasion. In any case, this is one of those cult-status venues that never lets you down and I absolutely adore it due to its sheer spaciousness and the fact that it always has superb sound quality.
Worth mentioning is that the information which I saw regarding this gig was that it was completely sold out. I caught this the day after the show and it made me insanely happy, especially when you could see literally everyone going out of the venue with amazement on their faces. Warms my heart to know that so many people love "Mgła" in Belgrade.
Right off the bat, I was somewhat late to the gig and I completely missed the opening band "Dagorath". This fact sucks and is sad, but what can you do. I talked a little bit about them with a friend who also attended and she seemed extremely pleased, so it might be a good idea to do some homework and listen to their recordings.
Their set was fast, aggressive and at times exceptionally melodic. The drums were a joy to focus on, since some songs featured interesting changes of rhythm, all the while the string section was shredding without a break. What I found to be unique about their sound was the addition of clean vocal singing. It seemed so well placed, especially during intense moments when the instrumental section was chaotic yet the singing added a contrast which was almost soothing.
"Martwa Aura" was definitely a pleasant surprise of the evening. Be sure to check them out, you can do so on their bandcamp page here or get in touch with them via facebook page here.
"Martwa Aura" was definitely a pleasant surprise of the evening. Be sure to check them out, you can do so on their bandcamp page here or get in touch with them via facebook page here.
I would never manage to guess that I'll be seeing "Mgła" play twice, let alone in such a short time span and even less in my hometown. As I was listening to their new, recently released album called "Age Of Excuse" and then also re-listening their older material prior to this show, I came to realize that I was still under extreme impression from their previous concert. That entire journey to Szalki-Sziget along with the time spent on the festival and finally "Mgła" itself (about all of which you can read here) was an endeavor drenched in passion and I jumped into it without much thought, heart first. I was entirely consumed by various emotions for those two days that the entire thing somehow resonated within me even after so much time. This time around however, I decided to reset and cool down, so that I could experience the show clearheaded and with a bit more technical approach.
This plan turned out to be impossible, since this band doesn't care what your current state of mind is. The chilled out attitude was immediately crushed the second they got up on stage. The seemingly familiar beast was in front of me again and it shattered me without hesitation once again. They do this within the first chord and it is unbelievable how their sound induces some kind of entranced state of mind where time is irrelevant and you completely forget about your surroundings, your complete focus is on their music. I experienced this only with a handful of bands and it is a merit worthy of coronation.
There's just something utterly fascinating about watching them play live, this time directly from the front row. I was staring at their guitar player who was just a few steps away from me and I couldn't help but notice how he reminded me of a sculpture by Antoni Pujol (this one) and then realizing that this menacing figure is performing a song about nihilism, civilizational spread of rot, death and the bleakness of existence... and there is just something entrancing and grotesque about the entire scene.
And what to say about the sound of the hooded quartet other that it is a force to be reckoned with, simple as that. Their signature was as strong as ever, a remorseless and relentlessly thrilling tempo that doesn't stop for a second. It's impressive to notice the amount of precision and quality that they show while creating such a raw and violent sound, since they truly sounded as good as on their recorded material. I have to say that the overall quality was so much better than the previous time when I saw them play, especially regarding the clearness of the vocals. This is largely in part because of the venue. The acoustics of the space superbly supported this audible onslaught and the band was free to unleash whatever kind of destruction they deemed fitting. Some tunes I've heard before, others were new to my ears. "Exercises in Futility I", "Age of Excuse II", "Mdłości II", "With Hearts Towards None VII", these are just some of the songs that echoed in Belgrade that night (you can see the full setlist on the trophy I managed to get after the gig). The previous "Mgła" gig review which I wrote ended with the lines from "Exercises in Futility V", one of my absolute favorite tracks of the band. Back then in Hungary they didn't perform the said song, but it was somehow fitting to end the review with those lines since I personally felt rather exalted that I finally managed to see them play live. However, this time around they did and my entire being was exhilarated to witness this. Like with my review, ending the show with that song seemed perfect in some way, the last sounds dying even after the band itself left the stage minutes ago.
And what to say about the sound of the hooded quartet other that it is a force to be reckoned with, simple as that. Their signature was as strong as ever, a remorseless and relentlessly thrilling tempo that doesn't stop for a second. It's impressive to notice the amount of precision and quality that they show while creating such a raw and violent sound, since they truly sounded as good as on their recorded material. I have to say that the overall quality was so much better than the previous time when I saw them play, especially regarding the clearness of the vocals. This is largely in part because of the venue. The acoustics of the space superbly supported this audible onslaught and the band was free to unleash whatever kind of destruction they deemed fitting. Some tunes I've heard before, others were new to my ears. "Exercises in Futility I", "Age of Excuse II", "Mdłości II", "With Hearts Towards None VII", these are just some of the songs that echoed in Belgrade that night (you can see the full setlist on the trophy I managed to get after the gig). The previous "Mgła" gig review which I wrote ended with the lines from "Exercises in Futility V", one of my absolute favorite tracks of the band. Back then in Hungary they didn't perform the said song, but it was somehow fitting to end the review with those lines since I personally felt rather exalted that I finally managed to see them play live. However, this time around they did and my entire being was exhilarated to witness this. Like with my review, ending the show with that song seemed perfect in some way, the last sounds dying even after the band itself left the stage minutes ago.
It is difficult writing reviews for bands like this. Even if I go around the fact that I love "Mgła" with a passion and the fact that I might be biased because of these emotions, it is an exhausting task to pick right words because I feel they will hardly do the band justice. In fact, I think this review is a chaotic piece of nonsense and that it is too short to express everything on my mind. But I find it okay to post, since I'm also under the impression that senseless texts without any proper structure speak volumes by themselves. It might simply be another form of being "stunned", "speechless" or "mind blown". Maybe it's too soon to write a review, because all these chaotic thoughts haven't matured in my mind yet. Or maybe this is just proof of "Mgła" being one of those bands which can't be confined by words. Maybe...
"Acknowledge healthy confusion..."
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