Mgła is a Polish black metal band formed in 2000 in Kraków by Mikołaj "M." Żentara (guitar, bass, vocals). Age of Excuse is their fourth album following the highly successful Exercises in Futility which I remember popped up in several year-end lists. At the time, it did not make the cut for me. But luckily this week there was nothing else of interest, so I decided to give them a try. The new effort is one 43-minute song in 6 parts. My first impression was very good. Part I features a scary opening sample, which to me sounds like the alien from the movie Signs (2002). The intro is followed by a Behemoth-like guitar riff. And when the verse starts it immediately reminded me of Tribulation. Not only because of the voice, but also the melancholic tempo. There are riffs with guitar picking but never too fast, and in many moments guitar arpeggios. The drums are groovy instead of blast-beats. There are faster tempo parts such as Part II and IV which then remind me of Abbath. But as I went through the other parts there was little that caught my attention. The similarities with Tribulation kept bugging me. On the bright-side, I have to mentioned the brilliant cover art by Zbigniew Bielak that completes the full package.
All in all, Age of Excuse is a straightforward melancholic Black N' Roll album for the fans of Tribulation, Abbath and Behemoth. It's well written, it sounds good and it's catchy. But on the other hand, it doesn't offer much more than we already get from the bands mentioned.
Genre: Black Metal
Released by No-Solace on September 2nd, 2019
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