The Decemberists: "The Hazards of Love" album review

Colin Meloy and The Decemberists are back with, surprise, surprise, a concept album!

The Hazards of Love (out Mar. 24th) follows the adventures of young Margaret, her lover William, and an evil queen.  The 17-tracks on the album flow seamlessly from one to another in the telling of the narrative of, well, the hazards of love.

Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark breathes life into the role of Margaret and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden portrays the evil queen.  Meloy himself provides the vocals for the other characters in the story.

Each song acts as a scene from this enchanted forest theatre.  The album is divided into two distinct acts by "An Interlude", with a big boisterous climax just prior with "The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid".

The record has an overarching American Gothic aura to it.  Vibrant sounds swirl as banjo, accordion, and steel guitar, combine with a jug band stomp.  

Lyrically, songs like "Rake's Song" add to that creepiness with a macabre atmosphere that would give Nick Cave a run for his money.

The Hazards of Love is a difficult album to listen to unless you have the time to devote to the piece as a whole.  Dropping in and out for a song here or a song there is not the ideal way to experience this album.  The individual tracks lose their impact when removed from their context within the work as a whole.

The Hazards of Love is the perfect basis for rock opera theatre, maybe as a double bill with Tom Waits' Black Rider.

Best tracks: "The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)", "The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid"

Track listing for Hazards of Love:

• Prelude
• The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone)
• A Bower Scene
• Won't Want for Love (Margaret In the Tiaga)
• The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)
• The Queen's Approach
• Isn't It a Lovely Night?
• The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid
• An Interlude
• Rake's Song
• The Abduction of Margaret
• The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing
• Annan Water
• Margaret In Captivity
• The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)
• The Wanting Comes In Waves (Reprise)
• The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)

8.0

The Decemberists' website

The Decemberists' Myspace