The opening helicopter blades of The Killers’ still resonating virgin release, “Hot Fuss,” landed the indie band from obscurity onto mainstream soil in 2004. Unfortunately, their follow-up, “Sam’s Town,” is a crash landing at best. I know it’s never fair to compare album releases to elder siblings, but what we have here is a red-headed stepchild riding a black sheep. For starters, the single, “When We Were Young,” is a far cry from the exuberance held by such previous fist pumping singles like “Mr. Brightside” and “Somebody Told Me.” What’s worse, the quartet lead by Brandon Flowers has largely abandoned the “synth rock” sound and disco shuffle beats that helped put them on the map. For a pop band like the Killers to sell the genre it takes infectious melodies and indelible lyrics. Instead we have a cacophony of badly named tracks like “Uncle Johnny” and “Bling (Confessions of a King)” that drone on with zero musical drive. The Killers were much more alive two years ago, now it seems they’re gasping for breath. After giving “Sam’s Town” several listen-throughs it’s obvious why the Vegas-based band named their sophomoric (it’s a music review axiom to use the word “sophomoric”) release after a sub-par casino. Let’s hope The Killers’s third release is named “Mandalay Bay.”
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