Icelandic folk pop sensations Of Monsters And Men are back with their long-awaited third studio album Fever Dream, and while it’s tremendous to have them back, it’s a very different band we welcome into the limelight this time round. 

The five-piece shot to fame in 2012 with the release of Little Talks, a glorious brass and ‘Hey!’-laden romp delivered in the gorgeous Icelandic twang of lead singers Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson. Second single Dirty Paws offered more of the same, and debut album My Head Is An Animal garnered rave reviews, charted in the top ten around the world, and went platinum.

Follow-up release Beneath The Skin was cut from the same cloth, but with Fever Dream Of Monsters And Men have ripped up their wildly successful playbook and started again.

Lead single Alligator kicks things off in rollicking fashion, the orchestral qualities of Little Paws et al quickly banished to the Icelandic wilderness in favour of unashamed disco-edged and synth-soaked pop.

Two minutes in you might find yourself checking if this really is an Of Monsters And Men record, so drastic is the change compared to their first two albums.

It’s four years since Beneath The Skin was released, and in that time Of Monsters And Men have become stars, with sold-out shows around the world. Clearly they’re a group that have come a long way and it’s reflected in their new output.

Waiting For The Snow is the first track that feels like it wouldn’t have been out of place on either of the last two records. It’s a beautifully soft song that clashes slightly with the bombastic highs of the rest of Fever Dream.

Another highlight is Sleepwalker, probably the closest ancestor to its best-selling predecessors, while Stuck In Gravity is a soaring, layered number that best embraces their new synth sound.

Overall, Fever Dream is a far brighter affair than anything they’ve put out to date, and as a band they deserve credit for being brave enough to take their work in a new direction. However there’s nothing here that’s going to replace Little Talks and Dirty Paws as the quintessential Of Monsters And Men tracks to most of us. 

 Indie folk/pop