Fred turned me onto The Decemberists a few years ago and I must admit that I was not too enthralled at first. I listened to Picaresque and found Colin Meloy’s voice to be nasal and pinched, I also just didn’t get it, I mean, who sings songs about maritime life anyway? Enter The Crane Wife. Like most People, unfortunately, this was my crossover album. This time I found myself enjoying the creativity of the songs and their wide ranged and off beat themes. Now Meloy and crew have taken a step back to do something truly remarkable and daring, during what is most definitely the pinnacle of their career to date, with the release of The Hazards of Love.

The album opens with a slowly forming, organ driven prelude that is reminiscent of the opening of your typical musical where the curtain is rising, the last few stragglers are finding their seats and everyone is settling in for the first act. The plot itself is a little difficult to follow as Meloy voices both the narrator, William and the evil Rake. The story goes that William, a shape shifting forest dweller falls in love with Margaret (voiced by Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond), who is pregnant and banished. William’s mother is the Queen of the Forest (voiced by Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond) and disapproves of the courtship and tries to interfere along with the evil Rake who declares he is “living so easy and free” because his wife died during delivery and he has killed all his children. The end finds the two lovers atop a sinking ship finding solace in one another with their shared fate.

While The Hazards of Love is not the finest album that The Decemberists have ever given to the masses, it has held up to the expectations that are put on a concept album. While pushing the boundaries at times and settling into more familiar territory at others this album is a journey that has highs and lows both within the plot line as well as in the song writing. Meloy’s uncanny lyrics had me in search for the nearest dictionary as he tends to do in order to tell his fantastic tales. Still up for grabs as to whether this album will make it onto anyone’s top ten list, it at least deserves a fair shake at the title.