REVIEW: The Decemberists - 'The King Is Dead' (Capitol Records)

Since the moment I first played this album I knew it was good. A few plays later and I have become obsessed with it. I've heard the name of this band somewhere before but I hadn't discovered any of their previous material and it wasn't until I heard a couple of their new tracks on BBC 6Music that i decided to investigate further. 'The King Is Dead' was released in January and in about 11 months time there is every chance I will looking back to this as one of the albums of the year. The songs are just astounding, imagine Frank Turner, REM and the Levellers thrown into a blender and served with a country twist and you'd come up with something that sounds very much like this record. Almost every track is a standout, from the naggingly upbeat 'Calamity Song' to the simple acoustic beauty of  'January Hymn' to the folk stomper 'Rox In The Box' to the Smiths-esque jangle and potential hit 'This Is Why We Fight', this album is near essential.


So essential it makes me want to check out all this band's previous work.... as an introduction to the Decemberists, it doesn't get any better than this. 8.5/10