MØL are a post-black metal band from Denmark and this is their third album.
With 2018’s Jord and then 2021’s Diorama, MØL have established themselves as quality purveyors of sharp, shiny post-black metal. Now, with the 44-minute Dreamcrush, they consolidate their position, offering up their most polished and well-rounded album to date.
Dreamcrush is MØL refined into their strongest form. This new album finds the band taking their blackgaze core, (think Deafheaven), augmenting it with increased alternative rock/metal, (think Far), melodic death metal influences, (think Dark Tranquillity/In Flames), and even more melody and shoegaze colouring than previously, (think Alcest). MØL’s talents lie in taking these elements and fusing them together into something greater than the sum of its parts.
The songs are textured and filled with emotion. Dreamcrush is aggressively melodic, but with a softer, sensitive side. The two work together well, presenting heaviness and lightness with melodic colour and melancholic depth. It’s a marriage of beauty and fury. The album glitters with sparkling venom, preventing a dichotomy of sorts for the listener – Dreamcrush manifests a duality of form, with both style and substance battling for supremacy throughout. Of course, this struggle gives rise to a cooperative synergy, allowing MØL to have their cake and eat it; Dreamcrush is an album of both stylish delivery and authentic feeling.
The standout aspect of Dreamcrush is the songwriting. MØL have concentrated on bringing actual songs to life, with hooks – vocal, melodic, riffs, groove-based, whatever – that work their way quite naturally into your skull. The songs benefit from both instant appeal and deeper substance, making Dreamcrush a very moreish and enjoyable album.
I like MØL’s previous work, but this is their best. Dreamcrush is a quality record through and through.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 