In a recent interview with MTV News, the Killers' frontman Brandon Flowers boasted that their sophomore effort, Sam's Town, would be received as "one of the best albums in the past 20 years." He added, "There's nothing that touches this album."
Such expressions of hubris might be expected from the band responsible for 2004's smash Hot Fuss. This multi-platinum collection of sleek pop numbers spliced the velvety grooves of Duran Duran and featured a slew of hit singles, including "Somebody Told Me," "Mr. Brightside" and the soaring "All These Things That I've Done." Its rousing new wave sound claimed a surprisingly diverse fan base that spanned the mainstream and indie scenes.
For Sam's Town, the Killers opted to tone down their '80s indulgences and instead mimic the windswept, yearning rock of Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run. No longer the naíve aspiring talents of Hot Fuss, here the Las Vegas quartet puts on mammoth airs of self-assurance in its attempt at constructing a sonically populist vision of Americana and its correspondingly bittersweet ethos. Sam's Town is replete with grand allusions to the endlessly open road, desires to break free and conventional heartache. The album's title itself refers to a lonely club in Nevada where the Killers initiated their ascendance.
This foolhardy ambition, however, collapses when put into practice. The aims of the Killers are not disingenuous and their musicianship is not wholly negligent, but Sam's Town largely falls flat. Their broad portrait of downtrodden love and uncertain hopes never appears rooted in experience or gifted with intelligent observation. Most damagingly, though, their anthemic striving becomes formulaic as it overdoses on clean rhythms and high-minded solos.
Flowers' weary invocations quickly ring false. On "Bling (Confessions of a King)," he sings, "I ran with the devil/ Left a trail of excuses" and soon after speaks of a howling wind that is constantly blowing across his romantic face on Sam's Town. The song's chugging flow creates the appearance of emotive momentum but it's more an artifice of energy and sentiment. "Uncle Jonny" rehashes the stomping rhythm of "Andy You're a Star" and applies it to a moody but hollow lament of abuse and confusion: "When everybody else refrained/ My Uncle Jonny did cocaine." Flowers' grating vocals only limp forward and never sound regretful or scolding, only indifferent. Such stale moments abound. "This River is Wild" ruminates on falling leaves, burning hills and sleepy towns but fails to bind such imagery with moving coherence. Its vagueness and impersonal posture plagues its aspirations of resonance.
For their latest effort, the Killers recruited top talent producers Flood and Alan Moulder, whose previous work includes U2, Nine Inch Nails and the Smashing Pumpkins. Here the collaborative duo widens the mildly contained grooves of Hot Fuss into sweepingly anthemic thrillers. Drunk on piercing solos, ringing synths and propulsive rhythms, Sam's Town thinks it sounds expansive and robust but, in actuality, can never overcome its faux-earthy repetition. "Read My Mind" stakes its vitality on a scratchy solo that continuously tries to rise and peak but doesn't take off. The aforementioned "This River is Wild," boasts all the anthemic qualities — grandiose guitars and a forceful blend of synths and skittish percussion — that fade as quickly as they come. Sam's Town finds the hearty sounds of Springsteen shrouded in a glossy veil of stylized rhythms and excessive riffs.
It is not, however, completely without fine points. The opening title track is an ever-progressing rambler of scorching guitars and brisk percussion. It's thrilling despite its bombast. The slim buzz and synth spurts of "Bones" initially point to another formulaic outing, but when the enlivening horn section sets in, the song becomes an easy pleasure. Likewise, the lead single "When You Were Young" should be as forgettable as most of Sam's Town but saves itself with an infectious meld of emotive vocals and burning grooves.
These better moments reveal glimpses of a band with burgeoning talent, but also one that is carving out a tenuous niche in modern rock. Their updated new wave approach rightly garnered tremendous success and seemed to be a template upon which the Killers could modestly expand and grow as musicians. On Sam's Town, though, ambition gave way to impatient artistic greed. To attempt a transition from Duran Duran and edgy Depeche Mode sounds to adopting "The Boss" as your muse is as daunting as it is musically confused and unintelligent.
In that same MTV interview, Flowers acknowledged the difficulty attendant to crafting a sophomore album of lasting impact. He then went on to deride the efforts of Hot Hot Heat and Franz Ferdinand when they were in similar positions, saying "they seemed to go away so quickly." Bollocks to that. Franz's You Could Have It So Much Better kicked ass, while Sam's Town is the hollow sound of a band unaware of its glib self-importance.
Grade: 2 out of 5
