Band:	Mgła
Album:	Age Of Excuse
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	September 02, 2019
A review by:	nikarg

01. Age Of Excuse I
02. Age Of Excuse II
03. Age Of Excuse III
04. Age Of Excuse IV
05. Age Of Excuse V
06. Age Of Excuse VI

You've heard black metal albums beginning with spits, shrieks, growls and all sorts of sounds that the human mouth can make. Age Of Excuse kicks off with E.V.T. -the guitarist of Medico Peste who also performs live with Mgła- gnashing his teeth.

There are a few reasons that explain why these Polish black metallers are quickly climbing the scale of popularity amongst metalheads and these reasons are all present in their fourth full-length LP. It's the accessibility attained by the melodic elements in their songs that at times feel they could be part of a meloblack release, as it is mainly demonstrated in the second and in the final track. It's also the way they handle tension and release; they build and build and build their riffs until they explode, like they do on track #5, which commences slowly and distressingly with spoken words and an ominous melody that gradually gets faster along the way until it transforms into a raging blastbeat that rains fire and plague. But above all, it's their ability to come up with something truly memorable and their audacity to let it play for longer than most bands would dare. This characteristic repetitiveness, which is less exercised in Age Of Excuse compared to any other album before it, is aptly reflected in the most interesting -and dissonant- song, "III", which has this ingenious lead guitar part that sounds like a black metal emergency siren and seems that it is going to go on forever (and you wish it would).

But it is not only Mgła's music that deserves admiration. The cover art by Zbigniew M. Bielak is reflected in the cynical, existential and nihilistic lyrics of Age Of Excuse, just like the case was in Exercises In Futility where the blind man in the album cover was referenced in its words. This time the rider of what looks like the pale horse of death is hiding his face with his hand and is holding a blade that cuts both ways over a wretched crowd facing imminent demise. The album starts with the line "A species had been armed with a double edged blade", goes on to describe how "The living dead stare at the gaping void waiting for the blade to finally come down" and ends by stating that "We cover our eyes in a call to arms and turn one edge toward ourselves". The lyrics in this album, and in any Mgła release for that matter, are not secondary to the music but of equal value; they are there to further fuel the emotional impact that the musical instruments create.

Not much can be said about the two musicians involved that hasn't been said before. Darkside is once again killing the cymbals and his signature playing puts the perfecting touches on the canvas of horror, anger and anguish painted by M's guitar and vocals. The path was paved long ago and the band has not taken any drastic steps away from what they have done before, so if you are an ardent listener of their stuff you are going to love Age Of Excuse. Has the time come for Mgła to release a less than great album?

"Not just yet."