Three songs into “Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?” it’s clear this isn’t the same Of Montreal. Even before Kevin Barnes sings “Don’t say that I have changed/ Because, man, of course I have” on “Cato As a Pun,” it is apparent that his supporting cast have packed up their theatric personalities and followed him into the band’s darkest territory to date.

Gone almost entirely are the psychedelic leanings from the band’s early outputs. And while the electro pop tendencies from 2004 and 2005’s near-perfect releases are still here, the band’s dance grooves and multi-part harmonies have taken a menacing twist. Though the lyrics have never been happy-go-lucky, the upbeat tunes have done well to mask the sometimes-troubling imagery.

Not anymore.

Written primarily during the deterioration of Barnes’ marriage, the dozen tracks are hauntingly moody and ricochet between angsty reserve and exhausted honesty. At times, the singer sounds on edge; at others, he’s almost too warn out to even emote. While his recent synth-driven LPs have reveled in the glitz of the nightlife, “Hissing Fauna” sounds masochistically drawn to the morning-after headaches.

Though during “The Past is a Grotesque Animal,” when Barnes sings “Its embarrassing to need someone as much as I need you,” it’s no longer clear if he means the woman he married or the woman he divorced. And that is the album’s strongest trait. Though it is unmistakably downtrodden, it is never depressing. It’s this failure to dwell too long on one mood that allows it to hit enough emotions – anger, sorry, cynicism, understanding and ultimately forgiveness – to be real.

No breakup consists of just a single feeling; and Barnes masterfully acknowledges each stage of his inner monologue. The newly single front man’s chilling chronicle of his relationship is honestly tragic and tragically honest. Depending on his mood.