After a six-year gap between studio albums, Icelandic folk rock group Of Monsters and Men released “All is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade” on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. Best known for their 2011 song “Little Talks,” OMAM’s return combines folk rock and pop with flourishes of synth pop characterized by the contrast in sound of its two lead singers, Ragnar þórhallsson and Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir.
Released in July as the lead single, “Television Love” opens the album. The song is built on top of choppy strings introduced in the intro which couples nicely with Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson’s best drumming on the record. The song feels like something that could have appeared on an early Twenty One Pilots album, with the outro being especially evocative of “Heavydirtysoul.”
“Dream Team” is an up-tempo look at someone struggling with conflicting feelings of confidence and self-doubt. The synth line that comes in after the chorus is reminiscent of the synth riff from “Love in Song” by Wings.
“The Actor” is a driving acoustic track with a pulsing bass drum that has good energy but takes a bit of time to build. That build results in an instrumental section with a ripping synth solo that could’ve benefitted from being louder in the final mix.
“Tuna in a Can” does a good job of keeping the listener on guard by mixing vivid storytelling with rhythmic variance. The instrumental section characterized by a muted guitar following the second chorus adds some texture to the song, and a descending bass line that follows the vocals prior to the final chorus keeps the track from getting stale. The song ends abruptly following that chorus; a writing technique revisited throughout the album.
“Barefoot in Snow” is a duet between þórhallsson and Hilmarsdóttir that layers strings and electric guitar to create a synth-like effect but ultimately comes off as choppy due to sudden and harsh turns in the instrumentation.
Clocking in at just over eight minutes, “Fruit Bat” is easily the longest song on the album. The final lyrics are sung with more than four minutes remaining in the song, giving way to an instrumental section that takes too long to build, and doesn’t provide anything overly interesting in contrast to the first three minutes. The actual payoff is also underwhelming. It’s one of the few times over the course of the album where an instrumental break brings a negative impact to a song. A placement later in the album may have been more effective. As it is, the drawn-out conclusion can lull you to sleep for the next few tracks.
“Kamikaze” is the track that suffers most from this dip in the album, as its booming drum intro is lost in the haze of the previous track. The chorus hook is the catchiest on the album thanks to its soaring vocal harmonies and multitracked pianos.
“The Towering Skyscraper at the End of the Road” builds intrigue in an intro with sparse, rhythmic instrumentation but eventually falls into the standard folk pop sound that we have become accustomed to throughout the rest of the album. Still, the lyrics take an optimistic look at moving on from someone after a breakup.
“Ordinary Creature” is the most upbeat song on the album and the most tightly crafted pop song. Despite the chorus consisting of just one repeated phrase, it makes for a good ear worm and fits in well with the theme of finding comfort in someone during a period of despair.
“Styrofoam Cathedral” and “The Block” are both fine songs but kill some of the energy picked up with “Ordinary Creature” and don’t necessarily do anything to separate themselves from the rest of the album musically. The tack piano sound on the latter coupled with the orchestration paints a nice initial landscape but drops out during the verses, leaving them sounding thin.
The same can’t be said about the titular “Mouse Parade,” which is the outlier of the album. The breathy vocals and ambient soundscape venture into the avant-garde at times, while the piano accompaniment keeps it grounded in what the album has previously presented.
“The End” fittingly closes out the album. Accompanied by just an acoustic guitar, it features the cleanest vocal production of any track.
“All is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade” is often at its best when it gives the instrumentation some room to breathe, but the lyrics paint vivid pictures throughout and are what keeps the album from feeling repetitive. The songs all feel sonically connected to each other when taken individually, but sequencing choices (such as placing Fruit Bat in the middle) can sometimes leave the album feeling disjointed. Overall, the album is a solid comeback effort for OMAM.
Rating: 3.1/5