Killers' New Album Nothing to Fuss Over

The Killers' major label debut, 2004's Hot Fuss was easily one of my favorite records to come out that year. It was stacked front to back with straightforward rock songs with danceable beats and yet it was supported by sometimes hilariously clever, sometimes plaintively heartfelt lyrics. It was everything a first album should be in that genre and it left high hopes for their eventual follow up.

Their latest release, Sam's Town exemplifies the rarity of lightning ever striking twice.

It is a lukewarm record that is a ton of fun to listen to, but falls far short of the strength in meaning and simple humanity that the Killers are capable of. Lyrically Sam's Town offers nothing but poppy hooks and forced rhymes jammed one after the other. Thirteen tracks of singalong with no substance to back them up. To make matters worse, Brandon Flowers shows zero vocal range on the disc and rarely brings a different melody or cadence to each successive song. Oftentimes it seems that the vocal tracks to the songs on the album sound completely interchangeable.

This dearth of depth is especially disappointing given the vast musical strides the group has made in the past two years. Instrumentally, the Killers' second album is exactly where it should be - it is a direct evolution from where they were on Hot Fuss. The band is enormous; power-chorded and powerful with a crushing beat so commanding and driving that it would make a tone-deaf 94 year-old grandmother jump out of her wheelchair and pound her feat to the rhythm. They have blossomed from garage rock to arena - a move that some may not like but that makes perfect sense for the foursome to make.

And yet, even though they have built a colossus of sound they don't seem to know how to fully harness it. Riffs and changes which seem original on the first few tracks begin to wear thin as they are reused in the middle of the record and completely dry up when they are still being used at the end. In trying to capture the energy of former hits "Mr. Brightside" and "Somebody Told Me" the Killers seem to have completely forgotten the originality and soul of "Smile Like You Mean It" or "Everything Will Be Alright."

At the end of the day, Sam's Town is not an exceptionally horrible album, but it is an exceptionally forgettable album. Instead of trying to branch out in new directions, or even fine-tuning what they built in 2004
the band has attempted growth by trying to mimic and then amplify only the most radio friendly parts of their debut. Sadly, the road to rock stardom is littered with bands that have made that same mistake.

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