The Hazards of Love

A review I did a while back, but as long as I'm doing this whole bloggin' thing I might as well upload it...

I would thoroughly enjoy having a cup of coffee with Collin Malloy. As a follower of The Decemberists for the past several years, I am itching to know what inspires him to write the songs he writes. Since the band’s emergence as a major player in the indie-rock scene, Malloy has crafted a stream of songs so classically tragic that they would make Shakespeare proud. With their latest release, “The Hazards of Love,” The Decemberists go where no one has gone in a very long time, their tragedy-bent songs finally culminating into an old fashioned progressive-rock concept album.
The album is meticulously put together from start to finish, a tragic fantasy (because what other kind of fantasy would Collin Malloy have?) about an evil queen, a monstrous rake who becomes haunted by the ghosts of his murdered children, and two lovers (William and Margaret) who are torn apart by the scheming of the queen. “The Hazards of Love”, when approached like any other recently released album, runs a great risk of being misunderstood. For this reason, I think it should come with an instruction manual. The instruction manual would read something like this: First, no skipping songs; there are no singles, rid yourself of that mindset. Think of it like a book; you wouldn’t skip chapters, don’t skip songs. Second, this album requires concentration, it’s not just something to sing along to with your friends, listen closely to the lyrics, and you might be too squeamish to sing along (listen to The Rake’s Song). Third, pay attention to the story, get to know the characters, appreciate the album as a collective work, and this album is likely to be one of your favorites.
This is the part of the review where I would usually talk about the stand out tracks, but there really aren’t any. This isn’t because the songs are bad, it’s because the album is essentially a 17-track long song. The songs are in the same key and flow into each other seamlessly. I personally think the album could be a little catchier, (there are no “Valencia’s” or “Sixteen Military Wives’” on this album), but that’s not what The Decemberists are going for. This is a classic concept album in its purest form, the album teeters between British folk and metal, dotted with Zeppelin-esque riffs and choruses sang by ghost children. To even attempt an album like this is ambitious and to pull it off is a feat. But this isn’t just a novelty; it is an impressively good album. I’m not sure how it will fare in today’s scene, but there is no doubt that “The Hazards of Love” would have been a classic had it been released in the British Isles in the 1970’s.