Album Review: The Killers - Battle Born

The Killers
Battle Born
Rating: Meh

The Killers 2004 album Hot Fuss was a guilty pleasure of 80s synths and 90s Brit pop affectations that made up for in pure hookiness what it lacked in intelligence. Of course, the band, like a lot of acts that feel pure pop music is not taken seriously, tried to become the next great American guitar band on the follow up Sam's Town, which found The Killer's thinking they had been possessed by the spirit of Bruce Springsteen. Thankfully, beneath all the bombast and shlocky attempts to reach the cheap seats, the album actually was a pretty stunning (almost) train wreck that somehow was able to give out enough pop goodness to save itself. After being taken down a peg or two, Brandon Flowers and Co., returned with 2008's Day & Age which sought to merge the two albums into one, and while it had some really fun pop tracks, it was weighed down by two many attempts at making "important" music. After 4 years, The Killers latest record Battle Born finds the band back in the Sam's Town mode, going for an epic sound that just doesn't really suit them, and instead of going for a singular Springsteen-like sound, they are all over the map here, borrowing from everyone from U2, Coldplay, Garth Brooks, to Elton John, and never fully set into a groove on the record. Too often the songs just sound calculated to evoke an emotional response that is just not earned. The record works best when it stops trying to be so important and just lets the hooks speak for themselves.

Lead track "Flesh and Blood" uses skyscraping synth lines and a rousing chorus that elevate the song to another classic Killers track; of course it helps to try and ignore the silly lyrics. "Runaways," while basically another cribbed track from Springsteen, has the decency to wear its influence on its sleeve.



On "Deadlines and Commitments" locks into a nice groove early, with subtle synth lines, and a kept in check vocal from Flowers, growing into a forceful chorus.



Even "Heart of Girl," a collaboration with Daniel Lanois, and sounds exactly like an outtake from The Joshua Tree, is such a gorgeous track full of interesting sonic embellishments, it transcends its copycat qualities.



The only time that The Killers step outside their comfort zone is the achingly beautiful ballad "Be Still." Flowers stretches his voice to amazing levels of emotion, pulling a performance out of himself I never expected. While the song threatens to fall over the line into treacly territory, his voice just powers through it.

But for most of the record, there is just too many tracks trying too hard to be something they are not. Where artists like Springsteen sung about going out on the town, or hitting the road, there was always a deeper social/economic context going on that elevated them from mere party tracks. Here, The Killers mistake thinking their lyrics are profound but are merely cliche ridden. Despite an interesting keyboard opening "The Rising Tide" becomes just another lackluster guitar track with silly lyrics like "let's go out tonight/there's a mystery underneath the neon light." "The Way It Was" is a trite boy in a fight with his girl take that lacks any sort of new revelations; "Miss Atomic Bomb," an apparent homage to Elton John, again gets mired in cliched lyrics about dust clouds settling, looking back on neon nights, and racing shadows in the moonlight; while things get completely embarrassing on the country-rock hybrid "From Here On Out" which is practically unlistenable.

Battle Born is a curiously un-fun record, lacking the goofy smarts of Hot Fuss, the over the top silliness of Sam's Town, or even the spacey disco vibe of Day & Age. It just sounds like a retread of better ideas and songs from other bands and artists. Funny that the two bonus tracks on the Deluxe Edition of the record show more spunk and verve than the remaining songs on the official tracklist. Sometimes bands just need to know that we like them for their strengths, and The Killers' strengths are pure pop songs. They should stick to them.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.