''Exercises in Futility'' is the third studio album by Polish

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

band

Mgła Mgła (; en, "Fog") is a Polish black metal band from Kraków, formed in 2000. The duo consists of vocalist, guitarist and bassist M. (Mikołaj Żentara) and drummer Darkside (Maciej Kowalski). The band has released four albums and began pe ...

. It was released on 4 September 2015, through Northern Heritage Records. Featuring "a raw, melodic black metal" style that was compared to those of

Watain Watain is a Swedish black metal band, formed in 1998.Eduardo Rivadavia: ''Watain Biography'' Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation. The band's name is taken from an early recording by the American black metal group Von (band), Von.Ronald Ziegler ...

and early

Burzum Burzum (; ) was a Norwegian music project founded by Varg Vikernes in 1991. Although Burzum never played live performances, it became a part of the early Norwegian black metal scene and is considered one of the most influential acts in black m ...

, the album is regarded as "the biggest and most impactful release of the band's 15-year career." The front cover features an artwork from French engraver

Marcel Roux Marcel Roux (September 11, 1878 – January 19, 1922) was a French painter and engraver. A devout Catholic, he often explored the decadence of turn-of-the-century life through images of its suffering. This includes his ''Danse Macabre'' portfolio ...

, titled ''L'aveugle'' ("The blind", 1908). The band embarked a North American tour following the album's release.

Critical reception

''Exercises in Futility'' was met with positive responses. Andy O'Connor of

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praised the album, stating, "Mgła are the true heirs to

Dissection Dissection (from Latin ' "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause ...

's style of black metal; the melodies are huge without dipping into the saccharine." O'Connor further stated: "Mgła's accomplished performance on ''Futility'' transforms the lyrical content into a call to action." ''Exercise in Futility'' was listed as number 8 on Pitchfork's "The Best Metal Albums of 2015" list.

Track listing

# "Exercises in Futility I" – 7:58 # "Exercises in Futility II" – 7:48 # "Exercises in Futility III" – 4:37 # "Exercises in Futility IV" – 4:45 # "Exercises in Futility V" – 8:15 # "Exercises in Futility VI" – 8:49

Personnel

* Mikołaj "M." Żentara – guitar, bass, vocals, recording * Maciej "Darkside" Kowalski – drums, recording

References

External links

''Exercises in Futility''
on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

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