{"id":84078,"date":"2019-06-11T14:00:35","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=84078"},"modified":"2023-04-07T14:26:54","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T13:26:54","slug":"review-mol-i-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: M\u00d8L &#8211; I \/ II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-84173 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor-100x100.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor-465x465.jpeg 465w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor-500x500.jpeg 500w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor-600x600.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor.jpeg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>As far as breakouts last year go, few compared to <b>M\u00d8L<\/b> and their debut <i>\u2019Jord\u2019<\/i>, an album which saw a very real contender to the blackgaze throne that had previously been permanently usurped by Deafheaven. It was unquestionably a great album and garnered the sort of reception that\u2019s spurred on the release of <i>\u2019I \/ II\u2019<\/i>, a reissue of their first two EPs to fully capitalise on their intense hype.<\/p>\n<p>As such, it feels like something of a requirement to judge <i>\u2019I \/ II\u2019<\/i> next to <i>\u2019Jord\u2019<\/i>, if only to catalogue the progression that\u2019s been made between the two. It\u2019s easy to see how much <b>M\u00d8L<\/b> have come forward as well; this is a far less refined album, particularly with a much more rugged style of guitar work on <i>\u2019Airy\u2019<\/i> that still has scope and atmosphere, but it\u2019s nowhere near as prominent. That\u2019s merely an observation rather than a criticism though, especially when the seeds of greatness were clearly planted early with styles that still have a lot going for them.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/aVllqUo96ac<\/p>\n<p>Of course, those formative dalliances into blackgaze are easy to pick up on as well, but what\u2019s surprising is how rock-solid they are even here. It\u2019s clearest on <em>\u2019Kathexis\u2019<\/em> with its spiralling tumult that perfectly balances black-metal fire with crystalline production, but morphing into the blastbeats of <i>\u2019Makhachkala\u2019<\/i> shows a concern for experimentation, even in the band\u2019s earliest days. Cracks might have been filled in by remastering, but this is a still a remarkably proficient and complete sound in this formative state.<\/p>\n<p>It portrays <b>M\u00d8L<\/b>\u2019s rise as much more than a case of meteoric hype, and underlines a level of quality that had been there from the very start. Granted, that had never really been called into question, but <i>\u2019I \/ II\u2019<\/i> is still a worthy addition to the catalogue of a band who &#8211; as has now been made especially clear &#8211; are yet to put a single foot wrong. For anyone still enamoured by <i>\u2019Jord\u2019<\/i>, this is an essential next step.<\/p>\n<p>4\/5<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8216;I \/ II&#8217;<\/i> by <b>M\u00f8l<\/b> is out now on <b>Holy Roar Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><b>M\u00d8L<\/b>\u00a0links:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/moeldk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/moeldk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/moeldk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/moeldk.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Luke Nuttall (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nuttall_luke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@nuttall_luke<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;&#8216;I \/ II&#8217; portrays M\u00d8L\u2019s rise as much more than a case of meteoric hype&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":84173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[4319,94,5464,15029,15131],"class_list":["post-84078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-holy-roar-records","tag-i-ii","tag-luke-nuttall","tag-mol"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: M\u00d8L - I \/ II - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;&#039;I \/ II&#039; portrays M\u00d8L\u2019s rise as much more than a case of meteoric hype&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: M\u00d8L - I \/ II - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;&#039;I \/ II&#039; portrays M\u00d8L\u2019s rise as much more than a case of meteoric hype&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-11T13:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-07T13:26:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Nuttall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Luke Nuttall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: M\u00d8L - I \/ II - Already Heard Staging","description":"\"'I \/ II' portrays M\u00d8L\u2019s rise as much more than a case of meteoric hype\"","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: M\u00d8L - I \/ II - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"\"'I \/ II' portrays M\u00d8L\u2019s rise as much more than a case of meteoric hype\"","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2019-06-11T13:00:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-07T13:26:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Luke Nuttall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Luke Nuttall","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/"},"author":{"name":"Luke Nuttall","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/355c8ef8136051dd158a626d1b0eaf08"},"headline":"Review: M\u00d8L &#8211; I \/ II","datePublished":"2019-06-11T13:00:35+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-07T13:26:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/"},"wordCount":379,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor.jpeg","keywords":["Album Review","Holy Roar Records","I\/II","Luke Nuttall","M\u00f8L"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/","name":"Review: M\u00d8L - I \/ II - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor.jpeg","datePublished":"2019-06-11T13:00:35+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-07T13:26:54+00:00","description":"\"'I \/ II' portrays M\u00d8L\u2019s rise as much more than a case of meteoric hype\"","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-mol-i-ii\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Moli_ii-compressor.jpeg","width":900,"height":900},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/355c8ef8136051dd158a626d1b0eaf08","name":"Luke Nuttall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1e96a8963ae771ced274c7b1fb9d0f10c4c8cc7322763e02b13910b93790807?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1e96a8963ae771ced274c7b1fb9d0f10c4c8cc7322763e02b13910b93790807?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1e96a8963ae771ced274c7b1fb9d0f10c4c8cc7322763e02b13910b93790807?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Luke Nuttall"},"description":"Based in Liverpool, Luke has been writing for Already Heard since 2015, as well as founding and editing his own website The Soundboard around the same time.","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/lukenuttall\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84078"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84175,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84078\/revisions\/84175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}