This is in no way to suggest other bands haven't accomplished the ebb and flow, top to bottom piece of art that is an actual album.
, simply solidifies their place as one of the, if not the best bands this generation has heard. That said, no modern band has mastered story telling like The Decemberists, and that puts them in a category all their own.
not only stands strong against the bands former albums, but may indeed stand at the top. Sure,
, it certainly lacks the overpowering nautical feel that caused so many to fall in love with the Portland-based quintet, but it has elements of those early days spliced with new and bigger sounds and ideas.
A reoccurring theme is nothing new to The Decemberists, their nearly 20 minute single track EP
was released in 2004, and has the same chord progressions showing up time and again.
But an EP cannot compare to an entire album!
Where their previous albums have fluctuating between up and down tempo tracks, few have the stark contrast from song to song as
Hazards. The result has been songs, and albums, sounding a little too similar. This is not a horrible thing, few things this band has done could even be considered bad, but deciphering between
Castaways And Cutouts, Her Majesty and
Picaresque can be difficult from time to time.
In this way
Hazards firmly sets itself apart. Take the middle of the album, when the sweeping "Isn't It A Lovely Night" finishes and the listener is throw into the
Tales Fro
m The Crypt-ess haunt that is the beginning of "The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid."
Shara Worden's blasting vocals push the tempo of the song up in a ways scarcely seen by any singer this side of Jim James, building and building until... down we go again with "Interlude," only to go back up tempo with the disturbingly delicious "Rake Song." As the album continues to progress we're hit for what feels like the first time for The Decemberists with heavy guitars. Chris Funk absolutely kills it in "The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing," with fucking fantastical organ whaling in the background and an absolute power demanded by Worden yet again.
Through all of this Hazards manages to do what no other Decemberists album, and very few albums throughout time have done, the album holds the listener through every single track. Not once during the listening experience have I ever had the inkling to cut the album short in any way; which is saying something, because kids singing is creepy and they're all over "The Hazards Of Love 3 (Revenge!)."
Adding to the swing of tempo throughout the album are several repeated progressions and feels; such as the country western feel the lap steel brings in both "Isn't It A Lovely Night," and "The Hazards Of Love 4 (The Drowned)." In "Lovely Night" the band ties to other songs on the album while adding an Eatern European style, reminiscent of "The Chimbley Sweep" off of Her Majesty. Reminiscent, but distinctly different; a progression that hadn't been in The Decemberists work until The Crane Wife, and has been pushed forward in Hazards.
Though large stride have indeed been made in Hazards, the sounds shouldn't be unrecognizable to those familiar with the band. Fans of The Crane Wife will undoubtedly feel the similarities between "Sons and Daughters" and "The Hazards Of Love 2 (Wager All)". Meloy even manages to tie the two albums together re-invoking the narrator of "The Crane Wife 1 and 2" during "The Rake's Song," referencing bells ringing for their wedding. Is The Hazards of Love then appropriately titled for the demise of the happy couple of The Crane Wife? I don't know, just something to ponder.
Aside from finally proving to
Stephen Colbert that lead-guitarist Chris Funk can shred with the best of them, Hazards successfully shows off every one of the bands capabilities and, in some tracks, adds to them. The addition of
Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark and especially
My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden as the Queen compliment frontman
Colin Meloy in absolutely fantastical ways. While Meloy's voice is one of the prodigious elements that has drawn fans to this band, the harmonizing in tracks like "Annan Water" not only serve as a contrast to the norm, but pushes the band in new directions, continuing their evolution instead of growing stagnant.
And wouldn't any true fan of music want a band to progress? Take the aforementioned Flaming Lips, would you really want their career to be solely the punk/garage rock they produced in the 80s? Where the hell would Radiohead be if they kept coming out with Pablo Honey again and again? Folks that want the same ol goodness they've come to know and love should just listen to Jack Johnson, and eat at their local iHop.
