The Decemberists - The King is Dead

With 2009’s The Hazards of Love, the Decemberists outdid themselves. The record was a mammoth achievement, a rock opera on par with Pink Floyd’s The Wall and the Who’s Tommy. With its epic scope and sonic experimentation—who knew Colin Meloy had such a knack for heavy metal?—it was their most ambitious effort to date. So when their new release, The King is Dead, consists of 10 mid-tempo folk-rock tracks, it feels like a step backward.

No one can blame them for toning things down a bit after Hazards. But what Meloy and his band of articulate troubadours have given us this time around is essentially Decemberists-lite: a polished collection that lacks the gleeful idiosyncrasies that put them on the map.

Featuring R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and indie folk star Gillian Welch, The King is Dead draws too heavily from its guest artists’ work. Many of the songs are either straightforward minor-key rock numbers—exemplified by the shameless R.E.M. knockoff “Down by the Water”—or adequate stabs at alt-country. It’s as though Meloy tossed his collection of Victorian poetry and replaced it with the Nashville songbook and a generous helping of steel guitar twang.

This isn’t to say that the record is without its strengths. Longtime Decemberists fans will relish the accordion on “Rox in the Box,” and as always, keep a dictionary handy when parsing Meloy’s lyrics. (Who else could work the word “dowager” into a song about the apocalypse?) Minimalist folk tunes “January Hymn” and “June Hymn” stand out as particularly gorgeous.

The King is Dead is a good album, but for a band with such an impressive catalog, “good” simply won’t cut it. In the face of their stellar previous work, this one comes across as watered-down and overproduced, at times veering dangerously close to bland adult contemporary. Let’s hope that on their next release they’ll embrace their ambitious spirit rather than abandon it.

—Josh Stillman