Album review: MØL - Diorama

Album review: MØL - Diorama

Mind-blowing and addictive…

Released on the 5th November 2021, MØL’s second full-length album ‘Diorama’ offers 46 minutes of emotional, piercing, complex and totally addictive black/shoegaze metal. For those of you, like me a few months ago, who haven’t got a clue what the term ‘shoegaze’ means, it’s defined as “an ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion, effects and feedback”. MØL have taken this and combined it with the trademark shrieking vocals, tremolo picking and the almighty blast beat drum technique of black metal, to create something amazing. Compared to their last full-length release ‘Jord’, ‘Diorama’ has a lighter and more well-rounded and ‘epic’ sound, whilst continuing to focus on some very dark themes and personal subject matters.

The band is made up of five members; Kim (vocals), Ken (drums), Holger (Bass), Frederik (Guitar) and Nicolai (Guitar) and they have worked magic, to create an album which is full of surprising and beautifully mixed juxtapositions. The songs ‘Diorama’ and ‘Photophobic’ feature the stunningly ethereal female vocals of Norweigan singer Sylvaine, which brings a soothing and almost healing quality to the album and contrasts perfectly with the otherwise fast-paced and thick-textured music featured in the other songs, such as ‘Tvesind’ and ‘Serf’, which offer a much heavier and more traditional black metal sound.

This album has beautifully crafted layers and extremely catchy ‘ear-worm’ riffs – and that’s just the music itself. When you add the heart-wrenching, expertly written lyrics into the mix, you begin to realise what a masterpiece this album really is. A high percentage of the lyrics are in Danish (as the band originate from Aarhus, Denmark) so I would encourage anyone wanting to listen, to find the translations and immerse yourself completely in this brutal and emotive album. And for anybody wondering how to pronounce the band’s name properly (because I can speak Danish), the nearest sound/word I can compare it to in the English language is the word ‘wool.

Listening to this album from start to finish, will leave you feeling energised, uplifted, moved and wanting more. It’s an album that needs to be listened to multiple times, because you will experience something new each time and fall even deeper in love with it. ‘Diorama’ receives a 10/10 from me and an extremely worthy number one spot on my personal ‘Album of the the Year 2021 list.

Fae
Fae

A mum, English teacher, Psychology graduate and metalhead with a soft spot for death metal.

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