Album review: MØL – DREAMCRUSH

The notion of shrouding metallic savagery with autumnal, effects-laden alt.rock has long ceased to be a shocking transgression, with blackgaze’s most prominent practitioners moving in whichever directions suit them best. As MØL float into third album opener DREAM on a bed of vaporous atmospherics, even the inevitable blast of incoming noise can’t dissipate a weird sense of euphoria.

More than any of their contemporaries, the Danish quintet have an instinctive grasp of the melodic tropes of vintage shoegaze and the poppier end of early ’90s U.S. noise. Even at its heaviest – as on the surging Mimic, which retains an impressively full-blooded sense of attack – DREAMCRUSH exists within a curiously uplifting microclimate.

So there’s an almost counter-intuitive catchiness to single Young, one of several examples here of MØL leaning into the glistening aura of ’80s prog. Cello-assisted ballad Favour explores post-Cocteau Twins languor before concluding with a skyscraping solo from guitarist Nicolai Busse, while closer CRUSH is built on shifting edifices, moving from staccato riffs through bucolic interludes while occasionally hinting at the maximalism of Smashing Pumpkins overlaid on a blueprint of Rush or Mastodon.

Kim Song Sternkopf’s feral vocals remain MØL’s clearest link to black metal, but his commanding performance throughout DREAMCRUSH broadens out further with more actual singing as well as sparingly-used gothic intonation; to hear these aspects co-exist, head for A Former Blueprint. On Dissonance, these contrasting styles find themselves juxtaposed in somewhat formulaic fashion, whereas Garland succeeds by adding a sparkling guitar hook to its chorus.

MØL’s path has taken them some distance from their fierier beginnings, but on DREAMCRUSH they sound comfortable and confident in their own identity. Long may their nocturnal visions continue.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Deafheaven, Russian Circles, Svalbard

DREAMCRUSH is out now via Nuclear Blast