The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

FOLK ROCK

When Anglophile Oregon native Colin Meloy bills his band’s fifth album as ‘an odd bond between the music of British folk revival and classic metal’ he’s only telling half the story. Sonically, The Hazards of Love rocks like Sabbath and twangs like Fairport Convention, but thematically it’s an epic, narrative-driven song set telling of a woman called Margaret and her animalistic rake of a lover, while also housing some of the most breathtakingly affecting songwriting anywhere.

This is a bold, blustery, playful, cunning, bombastic and bleakly funny record. What more could you ask for?

(Rough Trade)