The Killers - Battle Born

The Killers have never produced understated music. In fact, quite the opposite has been the standard for the alternative “indie” rock giants, whose output reflects every aspect of the bright lights and gaudy hedonism of their hometown hailing, Las Vegas.

Careering onto the scene with 2004’s highly-praised post-punk revival Hot Fuss, Brandon Flowers’ crew as never relented with their progression and growth as a larger-than-life modern rock band. The more personal and conceptualized sophomore effort, Sam’s Town, saw the band swerving to ditch the alternative rock club night hits for a coherent and polished story-driven album that gained as many followers as it did neglect its existing fanbase. From here on out, a B-Side record and another LP have hit shelves worldwide, which have whetted anticipation for the Killers next gargantuan, stadium-filling beast, Battle Born.
Proclaimed as a foray into the genre of heartland rock, the band taps into its Americana and hard rock influences drawing on clear influences from legendary artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and Dylan from his controversial ‘electric’ transformation. With a revival of this style, only a truly confident and arguably established act could hope to pull out all the stops to truly deliver on a grandiose and high-flying scale. When it comes to these traits, there are few contemporary artists that match these criteria, but The Killers more than certainly fit the bill.

In certain respects, Battle Born seems like a continuation of the themes and musical ideas expressed on Sam’s Town, drawing on lyrical concepts and epic-scaled orchestration and shimmering production that would sound out of place if it was to come from any other band than this. For some reason, the Killers totally suit this style and actually make the less-than-appealing brand of ‘Stadium Rock’, actually seem somewhat delectable. That being said, of course no amount of arena-fillers will always taste somewhat sickly after a while.

Storming, pummelling rock tracks such as Runaways and the title track show that Flowers & co. still have the drive and talent to cater to the thousands of screaming fans this record will no doubt continue to please. Despite all of the controversy surrounding their status as an “indie” band, and whether or not the alternative music channels will be playing this record for as long as they have done with the band’s output in the past, The Killers are going to continue making the music that they want to, regardless of any criticism they may take, and you have to respect them for that.

7.5

Matthew White

The Killers - Runaways

From the very first time we heard THAT guitar start on a song called ‘Mr Brightside’, we all knew that The Killers were going to be a special band. They’re the kind of band who even though they have sometimes strayed from the rightful path, will always hold that special place in your heart. It’s been a while since ‘Day and Age’ came out and I think we can forgive them for the interesting lyrical choices now. Brandon went and wrote a pretty exciting album that sounded exactly like The Killers, and the ones no one’s ever heard of did stuff too. We’ve moved on, maybe our memories of The Killers began to gather dust. 

But now they’re back with album number four. ‘Runaways’ is the comeback single heralding their return. And what a return it is. There are drum rolls galore, a killer chorus (excuse the pun) and more than a little bit of Springsteen tucked into these four minutes. It’s a song guaranteed to make you smile just as a result of the enormous bombasity of it all, and as per The Killers pull it off with remarkable aplomb. The new album, ‘Battle Born’, looks set to show off a band just as formidable as when they released their first album eight years ago. 

Jessy Parker Humphreys