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 When The Killers first burst onto the
international scene, they did so with a glorious, youthful pop record
that mixed the glitz and glamour of their hometown LA with so much
influence from British acts such as Morrissey, New Order and The Cure
that many (or at least us), jumped to the conclusion that ‘Hot Fuss’ was
the work of a British band.
This time around, it seems that The Killers have abandoned both the
glitz and the obsession with England and headed straight into that
dreaded ‘Difficult Second Album Syndrome’.
The lads have ditched that youthful, eyeliner-and-sharp-suits glam look
in favour of ridiculous facial hair and a rough-around-the-edges
American Man look. They’ve ditched all but a slight trace of their
previous anglophila, replacing it with rugged rock songs that take Bruce
Springsteen as a foundation around which Brandon Flowers waxes lyrically
nonsensical about matters of the heart, long highways and Americana.
Gone too are the synth-laden, upbeat, dance-floor friendly tunes of old,
making way for more guitar-based, eighties styled rockers with the
occasional jazz accompaniment and other musical occurrences.
All in all, this more mature approach just doesn’t suit The Killers, and
fails totally to live up to the joyful exuberance of their wonderful
debut.
The likes of ‘Bling (King for a Day)’, in which early U2 are swept along
in a maelstrom of the majestic, and ‘The River is Wild’, with its
energetic flow and endearing hooks do thankfully save this album from
being a total bore. However, the same can not be said for the rest of
it.
No, elsewhere on ‘Sam’s Town’, tracks such as recent single ‘When We
Were Young’ and ‘For Reasons Unknown’ show The Killers hurling all their
efforts into creating arena-ready anthems at the expense of good tunes,
whilst the rest is made up of third-rate filler such as ‘Bones’ and
title track ‘Sam’s Town’, neither tune doing anything retain the band’s
earlier enthusiasm.
Many have already stated that ‘Sam’s Town’ is a grower, and perhaps it
will be. Though to be honest, we’d much rather rip the one or two decent
tracks onto our MP3 player and leave this bland album to grow a thick
layer of dust in the corner.
Recommended Links:
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www.thekillersmusic.com - The Killers’ official website
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www.myspace.com/thekillers - The Killers @ Myspace
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