THE KILLERS
Sam’s Town
Island Def Jam/Universal
· Radio-friendly rockers inadvertently insult Springsteen by emulating him.
When The Killers broke in 2004 with their debut Hot Fuss, they somehow managed to become the most commercially successful of the dozens of nu-new-wave bands. Less substantial than Interpol and more American than Franz Ferdinand, fun and catchy hits like "Somebody Told Me" made The Killers the Justin Timberlake of the dance-party rock bands – a palatable guilty pleasure. But the good times can’t last forever. In an obvious and very lame attempt to become a "career band," The Killers have released Sam’s Town, a more serious look at the downside of youth-gone-wild.
Unfortunately, singer Brandon Flowers’s idea of seriousness pretty much begins and ends with Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and most of Sam’s Town sounds like one of the Rockstar:Supernova finalists fronting the E Street Band. Songs like "When You Were Young" and "The River is Wild" are not only blatant Boss rip-offs, they’re also boring and poorly written, and Flowers’s dreams of rambling down "Thunder Road" clash with his Ian Curtis-vocals. Despite a few solid rock songs (the title track could get a dance floor going), Sam’s Town should secure The Killers a place in history as one-album wonders.
2/5
ELIZABETH CHORNEY-BOOTH
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