The Killers - 'Sam's Town' (Mercury) Released 02/10/06

Despite the colossal weight of its hit singles, there’s little denying that The Killer’s debut ‘Hot Fuss’ was half-hearted as it limped towards its finale. Two years later and the big question is whether with ‘Sam’s Town’, the Las Vegas quartet can better their first outing and make a consistently brilliant record. Typically, lead single ‘When You Were Young’ tees things up perfectly – a synth-laden celebration of youth, with the band sounding refreshed and almost virtuoso, it’s the type of tune you can imagine shining at festivals in 2007. Yet, while the band has clearly put some effort into creating a cohesive work (signalled by the concept album-esque interlude and exitlude), the album proves they have sadly neither progressed musically or offered us anything fresh. 

Starting strongly, the title track sees an urgent Brandon Flowers pounding out his words breathlessly as he struggles to compliment the trademark voluminous instrumentals. All good yes, but as the song reaches its climax, it transgresses into something almost as comical as the unfortunate dead creature that’s currently residing on Mr Flowers’ top lip. The pace slows, our frontman adopts a loud drawl amidst the four part Rocky Horror Show-esque harmonies of “I see London, I see Sam’s Town”, and it’s something bordering on the pantomime.

After the plaintive Interlude in which we’re duly welcomed into their fictional town and the tour-de-force lead single, they launch into ‘Bling (Confession of a King)’; a track which surmises the space The Killers surely want to occupy as a band. Huge sounding and anthemic, it’s a U2 parody in every possible sense - the only surprise that The Edge doesn’t appear in the song credits. As if to solidify the vacuous stadium filler band status, they even throw in some lame rhymes that would give Oasis a run for their money, “Higher and higher, we’re gonna take it down to the wire, we’re going to make it out of the fire.” Er, right.