Album Review: MØL - DREAMCRUSH (2026, Nuclear Blast Records)

Written: 17th January 2026

MØL formed in Aarhus, Denmark in 2014 and quickly gained attention for their inventive fusion of black metal and shoegaze. After releasing two EPs, their debut full length album Jord - released in 2018 - earned critical acclaim for its atmospheric yet aggressive sound. Their follow-up album Diorama in 2021 cemented their reputation as one of the most innovative bands in the modern metal scene. Drawing influence from the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins and Smashing Pumpkins, MØL prepare to unleash their third full-length album on 30^th January 2026. Guitarist Nicolai Busse comments, “DREAMCRUSH is an album about our hopes and aspirations being both a source of comfort and dismay. It’s about finding home within yourself and coming to terms with reality when the pillars of our lives are shaken. The album is deeply personal to us and inspired by events from our lives that we are certain also resonates with other people."

As you might expect, DREAMCRUSH is an album of extremes. From gorgeous instrumentation to harsh black metal salvos and moments of ambience to playful rock motifs. The opening track, DREAM, strikes this balance beautifully, beginning with delicate layers of keyboards and urgent, joyful guitars that immediately command attention. This momentum builds over the first eighty seconds, driven by Ken Lund Klejs’s dynamic drumming. Kim Song Sternkopf’s black metal vocals fire with wrathful intensity and the melodic background continues. Within another forty seconds, Sternkopf shows his range with clean vocals as chugging chords add an unyielding foundation.

This interplay of sounds, styles and textures continues on Små Forlis (which translates as Small Shipwrecks). Less than four minutes long, it encompasses black metal, indie influenced guitars and pop subtleties. Shimmering guitars float behind aggressive vocals one moment and straightforward vocals sit above crunching chords the next. MØL are a band that have no qualms whatsoever about melding any or every genre in which they are interested in representing. Listeners who enjoy these changes and apparent clashes, sometimes in surprising places in songs, will find much that rewards patient listening.

Young, one of the album’s singles, opens with a triumphant burst of melody before twisting into a maelstrom of blast beats, rapid-fire guitars, and pyric vocals. Another sudden change occurs and we are swept away on the crest of Busse’s cinematically lustrous guitar solo. Then, all the elements blend and the raging tempest merges with the melodic in a thoroughly captivating and elegant catharsis. Speaking about the song, Busse states, “Young is a song that has travelled through time. The chorus is one of the first pieces of music that I wrote for MØL back in 2012 at a time when I was living outside Denmark. I have returned to it a number of times throughout the years, but I was never able to make it right. So it was only when revisiting it for this record that it finally clicked in my head and I was able to write the rest of the music. The song for me represents a time in my life second guessing myself, trying to stand on my own.”

Hud (Skin in English) delivers more surprises with its steady, slow-tempo opening. Once again, the caustic intertwines with the opulent. At times, I wonder what a track in a single style might sound like, yet MØL’s seamless genre-blending usually quickly dispels that thought. Garland is extremely redolent of Snow Patrol during its ninety seconds until the inevitable black metal vocals appear. Nevertheless, the emphasis of the song is on the melodic. Lyrically, it depicts the breaking of identity and renewal in exploring grief and the rejection of imposed conformity. These miles / Gentle duplicity calls me / Youth turned me into something / Aligned / Conforming me. Drummer Ken Lund Klejs comments, “The song represents the broader scope of the album, yet only hints at the full journey, its shape and texture revealing fragments of the evolving sound and lyrical depth that define the record.”

Changing approach from the quieter, louder, quieter of some tracks, Favour - which features cellist Arianna Mahsayeh - is an exercise in patient build-up and crescendo over its first few minutes. Dreamlike, silvery, post-rock guitars conjure an atmosphere of celestial opalescence, offering a refreshing contrast to everything heard so far. The central section erupts with black metal vocals before giving way to a stunning coda. With the departure of Frederick Lippert from the band in late 2024, Nicolai Busse handles all the guitar parts on the album with the exception of the blistering and seraphic guitar solo that concludes Favour which is played by new guitarist Sigurd Kehlet. Much as I think Kim Song Strenkopf is a gifted vocalist, Favour is the one occasion on the album where I think the black metal approach interrupts the flow of what could be an amazing instrumental.

A Former Blueprint introduces a lighter touch with effervescent guitars and there are fleeting moments between the 1:20 and 1:50 mark that are reminiscent of The Lightning Seeds, something I was not expecting. The juxtaposition of the happier moments of guitars and the more introspective lyrics is a feature of the track and when the corrosive conclusion arrives, it feels justified. ∞ is a short, otherworldly instrumental that offers a moment of calm, leading us into the ninth track, Dissonance. Nicolai Busse delivers some of his best work on the album on Dissonance, inventive and ever shifting. At times, the sheer density of ideas demands multiple listens to fully appreciate the intricate layers.

Penultimate track Mimic is initially vociferous with combustive chords, rampant bass from Holger Rumph Frost and an incandescent performance from Sternkopf. A beautifully restrained ambient section precedes another excellent solo from Busse before the whole band attack as one, leading to a coda of dissonant rhythms and synths. CRUSH closes the album as a kaleidoscopic fusion of everything that came before - ferocity, grace, jagged edges, and sweeping arcs - culminating in a finale that feels both climactic and deeply cohesive. It perfectly mirrors Busse’s thoughts about the song, “CRUSH encapsulates in many ways the dichotomy we as a band always have sought to balance, the journey between melancholy and jubilee, uplifting beauty and devastation.”

From blackgaze to black metal, post-rock to shoegaze, DREAMCRUSH thrives on contrast. It moves between fragility and ferocity, between passages that shimmer with calm and bursts that tear through with relentless force. At times, the shifts feel abrupt yet they give the record its character. Songs like DREAM and Young show how melody and chaos can coexist without losing emotional weight while tracks such as Favour and Mimic prove that beauty can sit alongside abrasion without compromise. This is an album that wrestles with opposing forces and turns that struggle into something compelling. As Kim Song Sternkopf states, “The songs on DREAMCRUSH explore how our hopes and ideals can both lift us up and break us apart,” and that tension runs through every note. DREAMCRUSH is a masterful album; it is not a simple listen but it rewards those willing to embrace its contradictions. Join MØL and face the storm…

DREAMCRUSH is released on 30th January 2026

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