Alligator

"Alligator" provides Of Monsters and Men's most rhythmically driven moment — a propulsive, groove-anchored track that strips back the atmospheric layering of much of their catalog in favor of forward momentum and physical energy. Drums arrive early and stay present throughout, giving the song a backbone that demands bodily response, while guitars lock into a riff that feels almost hypnotic through repetition. Nanna's vocal delivery shifts registers here, finding a more assertive, direct quality that suits the song's urgent emotional logic — not the searching vulnerability of the slower tracks but something more declarative and even defiant. The alligator itself functions as a complex symbol: primordial, patient, lurking in depths until the moment of explosive movement — metaphor for repressed emotion, for the things we let build too long before confronting. There's a Southern Gothic quality to the imagery despite the Icelandic origins, suggesting influences absorbed from American folk and rock traditions. Production keeps the track relatively lean compared to the band's more orchestrated work, letting the rhythm section drive while other elements orbit around its center of gravity. Culturally this represents the band's most direct engagement with rock ancestry, the folk elements subsumed into something rawer and more physically demanding. It belongs at high volume, ideally in motion — running, driving, working through something that needs more than contemplation.