Murder By Death’s newest album, “Big Dark Love,” is bigger and darker than the band’s previous work, but it is also somehow more hollow. 

The opening track, “I Shot An Arrow,” contains melodies that are purposefully off-putting and pointedly disjointed. Every so often, the soulful vocals and various layers subside to reveal a softer, randomly poignant arrangement. The first song is emotional and messy, but also loud and sensitive. It foreshadows the eventual stripping of unnecessary elements that the album effects as it advances. 

The track, “Big Dark Love,” emphasizes the second word of its title. The song is the best example of the driving narrative of the album, as the speaker begs in the chorus, “Let me in / Me and my big, dark love.” The narrator yearns for acceptance, and expects it to be unconditional, despite his apparent flaws. 

The beginning of “Big Dark Love” is reminiscent of The Killers’ early material. It starts off eager and offbeat, combining garage-band sensibilities with orchestral scale. However, by the end of the album, Murder By Death reverts to a variation of their familiar gothic country rock. 

The opening songs of “Big Dark Love” betray the alternative-country roots of Murder By Death. As the album progresses, the musical arrangements alter drastically, a manifestation of time-traveling regression from the current state of rock to that of rock twenty years ago. 

The frank disparity between “I Shot An Arrow” and “Natural Pearl” (the eighth track on the album) is astonishing. The tight, flashy and zealous efforts dissolve to expose the band’s roots-rock beginnings and indie country aspirations. 

It’s rare to see an album so intensely concerned with disturbing genre convention. The gradual disintegration of the album’s arrangements signify Murder By Death’s attempt to both preserve where they came from and to highlight where they’re going. 

Through the middle tracks that form the album’s core, “Big Dark Love” transitions to a gentler motion and vocalist Adam Turla proves his adaptable range. One has to appreciate the clarity with which Turla delivers his lines, especially in light of the recent trend of vocalists who are difficult to understand at even a basic level (Ariana Grande and alt-J come to mind).

In its ambitiousness, the album forgets at times to establish a deeper intimacy with its listener. Nearly every track is rock solid, but together they make a bombastic and artistically impressive set rather than an emotionally-affecting one. 

That doesn’t mean that “Big Dark Love” isn’t haunting. “Strange Eyes,” the album’s lead single, is eerie and strange, combining sad and existential lyrics like, “I cannot hide / Lord, I have tried / You give me no reprieve / No chance to fight,” with frenetic pop melodies. The track is jaunty and unsettling, and it likely makes the best case for what the album wanted to achieve. 

“Big Dark Love” strives to describe one man’s narrative, and, at times, it succeeds. For the rest of the time though, the album’s endeavors to string together these separate entities ultimately don’t amount to much coherence. The connecting chronicle is there, but in the end, the album comes off more like a collection of short stories rather than a novel. 

“Big Dark Love,” though it may lack internal consistency, is a successful exploration of the modern rock genre, moving through pop-rock, roots rock and alt-rock with ease and enthusiasm. It revels in the messiness of its more complex tracks while also appreciating the simplicity and bare beauty of straightforward acoustics. What it lacks in lucidity and intimacy it makes up for in fervor.