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For the past decade or so, Mgła have established themselves as one of the top black metal acts of the Polish scene. I don't think they were very well known before With Hearts Toward None, but after that they seemed to be in everyone's rotation. Exercises in Futility is the follow-up to that, and perhaps the most complete Mgła release to date.

What we have here is a lesson in atmospheric black metal that is executed almost to perfection. Directed by the literal hissing of M., "Exercises in Futility I" sets the bar for the whole album, which is brimming with riffs that slowly and purposefully build towards exhilarating upsurges in energy and power. The geniality of this album lies in its songwriting. The riffs are simple enough and quite repetitive, but nonetheless extremely memorable, with just enough variety in the harmonies and song structures to keep your attention fixed. The snarling, grating vocals of M. add to the bleak and unpleasant atmosphere and are pretty easy to make out, making it all the more listenable. Drummer Darkside has received some well-deserved praise for his work behind the kit, but it just can't be overstated how important he is to this band and their music. He is wonderfully creative, especially with his cymbal use (he's supposedly a former xylophonist), but never gets particularly flashy. He provides a lot of depth and variation to each song, and is fortunately brought up in the mix and allowed to utterly dominate, which is perhaps best heard on "Exercises in Futility V".

With this album, I think everything came together and Mgła mastered the art of crafting songs about the futility of existence, that constantly claw and scrape at your attention for all the right reasons. If you are a fan of atmospheric black metal in the vein of Uada, but also stuff like Drudkh, Inquisition and second-wave bands such as Burzum, this album is unmissable.