''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 emp ...

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 per ...

. 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.Ronald Ziegler''Merchandise w ...

and early Burzum, 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, 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'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

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