In The Decemberists’ fifth studio album a beautiful yet mournful organ prelude crescendos from a long bass tone into a melancholy ballad. It is an appropriate opening as the album’s over-arching theme is the pain and emotions of bittersweet love.
Released on Tuesday March 24 “The Hazards of Love” is a 17-part hour-long rock opera about two doomed lovers William and Margaret. The band roster is Colin Meloy (lead singer songwriter guitar) Chris Funk (guitar) Jenny Conlee (Hammond organ accordion melodica piano keyboards) Nate Query (bass guitar string bass) and John Moen (drums backing vocals melodica). However to cast the female leads in his rock opera Meloy called on outside artists.
The inspiration for this album stemmed from Meloy’s fascination with the British folk revival of the 1960s. The album was inspired by an old Anne Briggs 1966 EP album titled “The Hazards of Love” and noticing that no song on the album actually had that title he set out to write one. The result was something much much bigger culminating in the new album. Literary inspiration seems to be a common trait in the band’s work as its last album “The Crane Wife was inspired by a Japanese folk tale.
Unfortunately, while the literature from which The Hazards of Love” is born may be unique and intriguing the album itself is not. Instead of an album’s worth of songs “The Hazards of Love” delivers one lengthy melody that leaves the listener unsatisfied and craving variety. Most of the album is mellow and unenergetic with occasional guitar shredding in attempt to liven it up losing the listeners attention.
In the past the band has done its hardest rocking to Conlee’s progressive psychedelic organ bombardment. Now the guitarists are trying out a metal groove in songs like “The Queen’s Rebuke / The Crossing.” However in an attempt to feel out new ground the band steps on some toes. For instance “Margaret in Captivity” may sound familiar to fans of Bon Jovi as its guitar riff is nearly identical to “Wanted Dead or Alive.” A band clearly proud of and known for its creativity should avoid such blatant mimicry.
The album lacks the stand-alone songs that make a new release memorable. “The Abduction of Margaret” is merely a suspenseful buildup song after which the listener expects a release but is left wanting with “The Queen’s Rebuke / The Crossing.” Granted it is probably the most energetic song on the album but that’s like saying a mourner is the most active participant at a funeral.
The possible exception to the monotony of forgettable songs is the last track on the album “The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned).” This song is a tribute to the emotions felt once the dust settles after the chaos that two lovers experience and serves as a reminder that everything moves on. It is beautifully written and preformed the last blip of a heartbeat on an otherwise dead album.
A song tells a story through music expressing what could not be said in any other way. In changing up the flow of an album artists create songs that are appreciated individually as well as part of a whole. While “The Hazard of Love” spins a new yarn the end product would have left a more favorable impression if the band had spiced up the songs adding one or two songs that deter from the rest of the album.