[Reaper16]

6. Mgla – With Hearts Towards None

I’ve spent this whole list praising black metal albums that take the genre to new, exciting, experimental places. So it’s pretty funny that my favorite black metal album of 2012 takes the genre to exactly zero new places. This album does nothing new. What it does is classic black metal, done exquisitely well. I know that lots of you reading this don’t like black metal. Maybe you haven’t had the right introduction. So here’s my challenge: listen to the first two minutes of the track “With Hearts Towards None III.” That’s it. Keep an open mind through the cool riffs and harsh vocals of the first minute and 40 seconds. Then experience the riff change at 1:50 into the song. If you aren’t motivated by that piece of music, if you don’t feel like you can take on the entire world by yourself, then you will never understand black metal. The simple melodies on this album, being able to hear the attack of the guitar pick on the strings, the simple blastbeats…everything on this album lacks frills but is so, so effective anyway. I mowed lawns to this album. I copyedited to this album. I took gentle walks by the Black Warrior River to this album. Everything I did while listening to this album sort of reaffirmed my own humanity, my own will to live a good life. It’s weird, but that’s what black metal at its best does – through the most extreme, brutal sounds comes something like a life-affirming experience.