The Decemberists give fans plenty of good reasons to 'Love' their epic latest album

    Indie darlings the Decemberists released their fifth full-length studio album on March 24, a sprawling alt-rock opus titled "The Hazards of Love." Billed as a ‘rock opera' in the vein of such progressive-rock classics as The Who's "Tommy" (1969) and Pink Floyd's "The Wall" (1979), the album sees usual frontman Colin Meloy joined by fellow crooners Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond in leading roles and undertakes to tell a story far broader in scope and detail than anything else the band has produced to date.
    Storytelling has always been Meloy's strongest and most distinguishing talent, and he is in top form here. The album's plot does not disappoint: The main character, William, having been abandoned as a baby in an enchanted forest, is adopted by the fairy queen, who desires a son of her own. To ensure that William will never forsake his forest home, the queen places a spell upon the young man that changes him into a fawn by day and returns him to his human form each evening. Some years later, William, now a grown man, meets Margaret, a woman from the nearby village. A romance blooms, and Margaret soon finds herself pregnant.
    Ousted from her parents' home in shame, Margaret seeks out William in hopes of settling down and leaving the forest altogether. The queen, fearful that her son may be tempted to rejoin the world of men and leave her alone, turns to a violent assassin, sending him to kidnap and defile Margaret as punishment. This prompts William to embark on a quest to rescue his true love.
    This plot, reminiscent of both Disney fairytales and Shakespearean dramas, is narrated alternately in first and third person by the three lead singers. Master lyricist Meloy sings about enchanted lovers and sadistic rapists with equal — and sometimes discomforting — ease and flair.
    Musically, the "The Hazards of Love" is possibly the Decemberists' strongest work to date. The album unfolds like a theatrical soundtrack, with no pauses between songs and each tune's endpoint sliding smoothly into its successor's opening. The first four tracks introduce the melodic and harmonic themes that characterize 80 percent or more of the entire work, yet at no point does the music feel stale as the band continually finds new and more psychedelic ways to combine motifs, rotate instrumentation and expound upon ingenious thematic variations in ways that would make even Beethoven proud.
    The album's sound is lush and full; harpsichord and heavily distorted electric guitar are given equal treatment as the driving instruments, although "Hazards" still artfully includes the band's familiar litany of acoustic guitars, mandolin, banjo, organ, accordion, strings and basses, both upright and electric.
    Individual songs draw on such diverse musical inspirations as classical orchestral overtures, riff-driven blues, power chord-based heavy metal, traditional acoustic bluegrass and old-time banjo and fiddle music. While the album continues the band's shift toward a more hard-edged sound that began with their last album, "The Crane Wife" (2006), it manages to retain the distinctive nu-folk flair that characterized most of the band's early work. This blend of inspirations and sounds means that to characterize "Hazards" in genre terms is an impossible undertaking.
    Unfortunately, while it is a wonderful achievement, "The Hazards of Love" is not perfect. The Decemberists keep up the musical and lyrical momentum for almost the entire album, but the story's ending — and the album's final song in particular — turns out to be profoundly disappointing. The murderous rogue, who is introduced with a song describing in gleefully gruesome detail the untimely deaths of his three children, is ultimately defeated at the critical moment by the vengeful wraiths of his slaughtered progeny, sparing Margaret's life and dignity. This ending completely circumvents any final showdown with William, rendering the entire preceding quest and the implied subsequent romantic deaths of the protagonists somewhat superfluous.
    On the whole, however, these few gripes don't diminish the overall appeal of the album. Anyone who has previously fallen under the Decemberists' spell should feel right at home with this latest outing. First time Decemberists listeners would perhaps do better to explore the band's previous albums, though, if only to become accustomed to Meloy's notoriously distinctive voice. The album is certainly not for everyone, but anybody willing to devote a solid hour to a close listening of the CD in its entirety will surely find "The Hazards of Love" a rewarding musical experience, with a story so dense and intricately constructed that the album merits and rewards repeat plays.