The Of Monsters and Men Albums Ranked
Of Monsters and Men’s “Little Talks” and first album MY HEAD IS AN ANIMAL kind of defined part of my high school experience. The former would now be called a banner millennial “stomp clap hey” song a la Mumford & Sons (indeed, the Icelandic band was inspired by the English group) and the latter was on repeat for me quite a lot shortly after its 2012 (international) release. And yet Of Monsters and Men does not loom particularly large in my recollection of “indie rock” bands and the growth of my desire to track releases from a wide array of groups. Perhaps that’s because I didn’t have much cause to, really: Of Monsters and Men, formed in 2010, has released four albums in the 14 years since 2011. It’s not an incredibly prolific run, but then, musical artists don’t really release records at the same clip as they once might have (perhaps exacerbated by the need to tour and sell merch due to the weakness of album “sales” and streaming revenues?). In any event, revisiting the band’s discography for this piece (including the EP TÍU [2022], which is not included here), I found that Of Monsters and Men has a greater depth than they’ve maybe been consigned to amid the rise of (often much-deserved) millennial-core derision. Or maybe I’m just projecting, as I’m not really sure what the consensus on the band and quality of its albums is!
#4 — FEVER DREAM (2019)
Favorite track: “Vulture, Vulture”
Of Monsters and Men turned to slicker poppier production with deliberate electronic sounds for FEVER DREAM. On the one hand, this offers some distinct pleasures and intriguing deviation for the band, as best heard on “Vulture, Vulture.” On the other, the nature of pop music in 2019 is transposed uneasily, with certain drum sounds and synths grating. I don’t listen to FEVER DREAM and think the band was suddenly chasing hits, but their transition to the sound as exhibited on the record reflects the trajectory many understated acts of the 2010s also followed as the decade wore on. The instinct to go synth-y and “big” certainly stems from some influential touchstones in common for these groups. But ultimately, Of Monsters and Men’s stab at it with FEVER DREAM, while not overall rankling or an unpleasant listen, is ironically the most drab record in their discography, for all its sparkling sounds.
#3 — BENEATH THE SKIN (2015)
Favorite track: “Crystals”
Of Monsters and Men’s sophomore album is the one most directly linked to their first and not just because it came right after it. BENEATH THE SKIN only slightly turns up the scope and soaring sounds of MY HEAD IS AN ANIMAL with even more anthemic courses, as on “Crystals.” The album does have a bit more pop influence (although the band came out the gate with catchy melodies, not as an experimental noise rock group or something), but with a tinge more of an arena rock bent than the digital production approach of FEVER DREAM. BENEATH THE SKIN sinks into a bit more of a malaise than its predecessor due to its similarities, but also slightly more lackluster earworms, yet it is by no means a massive sophomore slump misstep.
#2 — ALL IS LOVE AND PAIN IN THE MOUSE PARADE (2025)
Favorite track: “Dream Team”
ALL IS LOVE AND PAIN IN THE MOUSE PARADE comes after the biggest gap between Of Monsters and Men’s albums at over six years since FEVER DREAM. That wait must have recalibrated the band’s direction after the relative nadir of their previous release. The anthemic instincts of the 2010s flavor of indie rock the group practiced is refined and applied to spacey production augmented, not dominated, by squiggly synths and strange electronic accents. ALL IS LOVE AND PAIN sounds “big” in a more accomplished way than the two previous albums on this list and its combination of droning interludes and distinctly catchy choruses make it an engaging and rich listen.
#1 — MY HEAD IS AN ANIMAL (2011)
Favorite track: “Dirty Paws”
I’m not trying to besmirch the English language skills of co-vocalist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson, but I think some aspect of Of Monster and Men’s appeal to me is how somewhat bizarre their lyricism is. The strange tales that appear on ALL IS LOVE AND PAIN and MY HEAD IS AN ANIMAL especially have word choices that are just slightly off-step from what one would expect, to say nothing of the general vibe of the stories told on a song like “Dirty Paws,” for example. I’m sure that is intentional, but someone with English as their first language may not have come to that artistic conclusion. In any event, MY HEAD IS AN ANIMAL is great beyond the quality of its lyricism. Following the viral success of “Little Talks,” its lead single, the 2011 Iceland release of the full record was itself followed by the success of an 2012 international version. Having not revisited MY HEAD IS AN ANIMAL in full for quite some time, I was reminded of how strong each and every track is. It was a challenge to pick a favorite. Some aspects of the songwriting do hew a little too close to the Mumford & Sons inspiration, a group I never actually really liked in their heyday anyways, but there is a mysticism to the sound and Hilmarsdóttir and Þórhallsson’s voices that make the record feel out of time for the most part. My appreciation for MY HEAD IS AN ANIMAL can never be divorced by how it takes me back to a nostalgic time and place, but coming at it as clear-headed as possible, it still remains Of Monsters and Men’s most cohesively impressive and catchy album.
