Mgła + Clandestine Blaze + One Tail, One Head + Misþyrming + Kringa @Kraków, Rotunda, PL [12.12.2015]

I will start with a very insightful statement that Mgła is an incredible phenomenon on the black metal scene. The band is a textbook example of how music can perfectly defend itself. Without any aggressive promotion, charts, or mass appearances at various events. Nevertheless, we can comfortably talk about a snowball effect in terms of popularity, which intensifies with each subsequent material released by Krakowians. The style that this band has developed hides enormous potential, and it’s no wonder that tickets sold out immediately for their only concert this year. Mgła’s latest album „Exercises In Futility” is a true gem, so it was completely natural for me and a few good friends to quickly grab tickets and solidly plan our weekend in the city known as the native artistic Mecca, which has produced such distinguished personalities as Paweł Rak and Roman Paweł Lachowolski.

The journey was very pleasant for us – on the Polski Bus, we met some crew members heading to the Egodrop party, with whom we quickly found common ground and discussed more or less significant matters over the sound of glass. After getting off the bus, we spent about 40 minutes zigzagging through various paths trying to cover a distance that normally takes about 15 minutes, but that’s what happens when city dwellers enter a big city, soda gets to their heads, and everyone must be a guide. We were slowly rushing to the concert, with our plan to enter the venue only for the Icelandic band Misþyrming, and that’s exactly what we did, while relaxing in the meantime at the square of a good friend, I send thanks for sheltering our unruly gang.

As mentioned earlier, once we pushed through the wild crowds of youths in dark attire, we were greeted by the band from the island near Greenland. Misþyrming caught my attention online long before the concert, and their album, the title of which is unmemorable, intrigued me a lot, so I spent some moments of my life absorbing their music. Live, it was quite good, especially the slowdowns and „catchy” melodic solutions convinced me. Their varied tempos, depressive atmosphere, and cool aggressiveness were interesting live.

I skipped the following band, One Tail, One Head, as mentioned earlier, the focus was firmly on Mgła’s performance, and catching up with old acquaintances who we hadn’t seen in a long time was also an important part of the evening.

The first thing that comes to mind regarding Mgła’s concert is the question „why so short”. When they finished playing, I was convinced it was the end of the first half of the show. About 40 minutes passed like 5 for me. I was very happy to have managed to get onto the balcony with the king of thrift store hunters from Lublin. We had to sweet talk the guy checking wristbands for a while, but eventually, he caved in and let us in with a pack of chewing gum and a Frugo. Returning to the main point – Mgła’s music is simply grand, and attending their concert allows you to feel those sounds much more deeply. The melodies and trance-like structure of their songs drew me in to the point where I stopped paying attention to what was happening on stage. To be honest, not much was changing there, and the musicians were quite static. But arranging the intricately synchronized guitar parts in my head, catching nuances, flowing with the meticulously crafted melodies was a truly wonderful feeling. There is something very appealing in this music, I’m not exactly sure what term would accurately describe it, but it’s a kind of spectacular loftiness and majesty embedded in a contemplative atmosphere and devoid of typical black metal aggression. Mgła has a lot in common with post-metal in terms of generating a „deep” atmosphere, and I think I would simply go crazy if the band decided to incorporate some well-crafted visualizations into their work. I hope they consider it someday. The sound on the balcony suited me very well, although a few people watching the concert from the dance floor had some reservations about it. I had been to the Rotunda a couple of times before and wasn’t particularly impressed with the sound system, so maybe it’s not so easy to acoustically tune this venue. In conclusion, a fantastic performance that could have easily been the climax of the evening.

The closing act, Clandestine Blaze, by the guy from Deathspell Omega, had set the bar very high. Although the guy was performing with the members of Mgła and it was enjoyable, the afterparty syndrome kicked in, and we watched the stage somewhat reservedly, at some point getting more absorbed in mocking some funny guys in Nazi t-shirts rather than the actual concert. So I won’t attempt any detailed musical reviews here.

Sending warm regards to everyone I met. Special shoutout to the misanthrope who bought four beers and spent the entire concert under the stairs, then quizzed young people about Furia’s discography in the night *