An album length tale of murder, love and jealousy from the Decemberists was practically inevitable. Although these themes have played recurring roles in Colin Meloy’s songwriting since the inception of the band in 2000, The Hazards of Love brings them to an extraordinary climax with captivating lyrics and the menacing instrumentation that accompanies them. Heralded as a rock-opera of sorts, The Hazards of Love is a listening experience that requires undivided attention to fully grasp the complexity of the lyrics and to appreciate the structuring of the album and each individual song.

With The Hazards of Love, The Decemberists build upon the traditions explored with 2004’s EP The Tain and The Crane Wife’s “The Island” and title tracks. Although hints of Meloy’s love of lengthy epic tales can be heard as early as Castaways and Cutouts, never has he crafted a single story arc of this magnitude with nothing but his own imagination to guide him. While stimulated by the 1966 EP by Anne Briggs (entitled The Hazards of Love), the latest Decemberists album is inspired by musical history in general and not by a single album, song or literary work as in the past. The result of these broad influences can be heard in the wide array of sounds throughout the album. Although far from a metal album, The Hazards of Love is undoubtedly their heaviest album yet, featuring some truly fierce psychedelic riffs by guitarist Chris Funk and slick organ by Jenny Conlee. On the other side of the spectrum, “Isn’t It A Lovely Night” and “The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)” feature more traditional Decemberists arrangements, complete with accordion and soft acoustic strums.

Although a daunting task to undertake, the Decemberists have manage to craft an album that flows together lyrically and musically reasonably well with only the closing section of the album being slightly repetitious and drawn out. After an unnecessarily long prelude (though appropriately dark and mysterious) the album begins with the acoustic picking of “The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle the Thistles Undone)”. Long title aside, this song acts as a fitting introduction to the album, with instruments being added periodically to Meloy’s acoustic foundation until the track melts into the heavier follow-up, “A Bower Scene.”

Much of the brilliance of The Hazards of Love is owed to the unbelievable performances by guest vocalists Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) and Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond). Stark’s performance as Margaret on “Won’t Want For Love (Margaret in the Taiga) is absolutely captivating and heightens the track to become one of the best on the album. The song revolves around Margaret, a woman who falls in love with a shape shifting forest dweller, named William (voiced by Meloy). Documenting Margaret’s venture into the forest in search of William, the song is characterized by a beautiful vocal melody and a driving musical accompaniment that draws you into the story. Stark’s graceful, siren-like voice is the perfect match for Margaret’s character just as Shara Worden’s deep, sinister growls on “The Queen’s Rebuke / The Crossing” are appropriate characteristics for her character, the Forest Queen. Worden emits a Grace Slick-esque howl in the closing minute of “The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid” furthering The Hazards of Love’s psychedelic sound and solidifying her as a vital aspect of the album.

The first song released online by the band prior to the album’s release, “The Rake’s Song” contains some of the heaviest and darkest sounds ever heard from the Decemberists which work wonderfully in combination with the extremely dismal lyrics penned by Meloy. The story of the Rake’s despair over his newborn children and subsequent emotional indifference at their murder at his own hands, “The Rake’s Song” takes its place among “Shankhill Butchers” and “Leslie Ann Levine” as the most grotesque songs in the Decemberists’ catalogue.

The only thing preventing me from promoting this album as one of the best of the year is the unfortunate drag in the record post “Annan Water”. Although recognizing that the album tells a single story and must maintain constant themes and musical consistency, the final stretch of the album unfortunately contains a few “didn’t I hear this before?” moments that I feel could have been avoided through a bit more diversification of the repeating riffs and song snippets. That said, these moments only last temporarily and are separated cleverly by the haunting and chilling “The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)” featuring a children’s choir and the tear jerking album closer “The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)” which sounds like a lost track from the Castaways and Cutouts era and easily ranks among the best songs ever recorded by the band.

Overall, The Hazards of Love is an unsurprising, although daunting, album for The Decemberists, given their previous experience with similar undertakings (The Tain, and the Crane Wife trilogy). With Hazards, the Decemberists build upon their experience working with long established themes (love, murder) and combine them with fresh sounds and epic song structures resulting in one of the most lyrically and musically captivating albums I’ve heard in recent years.

Track List

1. Prelude (3:04)
2. Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone) (4:18)
3. A Bower Scene (2:08)
4. Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga) (4:06)
5. Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All) (4:25)
6. The Queen's Approach (0:29)
7. Isn't It a Lovely Night? (3:38)
8. The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid (6:26)
9. An Interlude (1:40)
10. The Rake's Song (3:15)
11. The Abduction of Margaret (2:06)
12. The Queen's Rebuke / the Crossing (3:56)
13. Annan Water (5:11)
14. Margaret in Captivity (3:07)
15. Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!) (3:21)
16. The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise) (1:30)
17. The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned) (5:57)