The Killers
The Killers released Day & Age on Monday; the highly anticipated follow-up to 2006’s Sam’s Town and their 2004 debut; Hot Fuss. But is it worth putting on your Christmas list? Lets find out.
The opening track Losing Touch has an almost jingle bells intro so it already hit’s a chord with me and gets me in the festive spirit (I know it’s still November!)
The likes of Somebody Told Me and Mr Brightside were always going to take a lot of living up to, and will no doubt pay Mr Flower’s and Co’s bills for a good few years to come, but I think Human might just be the repeat performance we’ve been waiting for. (See for yourself here) However; that been said A Dustland Fairytale might have a bloody good shot at it too. It’s slow intro and anthemic chorus got me boogieing all about the office. Love it!
Spaceman worries me that Brandon is slipping into Robbie Williams territory as he rambles on about ‘them’ ripping him from his bed and taking his blood type; you sure you weren’t just in hospital after a heavy night out mate? Over all a great song though, just pretend it’s your thought’s the morning after the night before though, otherwise you could end up looking like something from Star Trek.
Joy Ride sounds a little bit too worryingly like something you would party to on a light up dance floor with flares and platform wedges, yes boys and girls, we have warped back to Boogie Nights with the backing sound on this track; however, this isn’t the last bizarre musical arrangement on this album… beware; more are coming!
This Is Your Life is slightly better than the TV show of the same name, but the weird tribal chants might be something you’d end up with after blind date had been filmed and the ‘happy couple’ had been jetted off to some blissful destination.
It ticks all the boxes of a good song; Marching beat that gets your feet tapping- check. Great chorus that stands out - check. Bit in the middle that goes a bit quiet and shows off the singers voice - Check. Fit man singing - Check. Individuality - Ah, possible stumbling block.
As a firm hater of the ‘Indie voice talking whine’ on songs, I Can’t Stay manages to piss me off from the outset; and they were doing so well. This song has a slightly Jamaican beat (just listen to it and you’ll understand) however, If you’re anything like me; it will probably take a bottle of Malibu to get you dancing to this one.
Neon Tiger has a rather exciting name, but it seems that it’s only stuck on there to pull in the nu-rave audience, but
And the middle of the song has an almost Mika Grace Kelly “I could be brown, I could be blue I could be vio-let sky†ditty and actually makes me do a little bit of sick in my mouth! Come on Brandon, I thought you were meant to be ‘groundbreaking’ and exciting and this just sounds like you’ve listened to all the good records of the past few years, shoved them in a music mixer and glues them all back together again.
That being said, they do redeem themselves somewhat on The World We Live In with it’s almost electro sound that would be great for the new ‘fashionable’ cocaine addicts on the scene; who will dance to just about anything with a bet. Score! Other than that though, it’s quite a nice little song and unlike most of what has come before.
Goodnight, Travel Well is one of those painful tracks that last double the length a track should (six minutes in this case) and it would be a great track if the album was meant to be sending you to sleep but I think it’s not one they should rely on whipping an audience up into a frenzy at a live show… save that one for the bedroom please Flowers?
The bonus song; A Crippling Blow is just that… a blinking good bonus, it’s exciting and makes you want to leap around like a ‘neon tiger’ most probably would. I feel like I need to crank this up and go and buy a litre of White Lightening and get my groove on with my Indie homies… May, David, Emilie… where are you?
So, I have to be honest now (although the whole review has been honest I promise!) I’ve only ever bought Hot Fuss as Sam’s Town seemed to pass me by whilst I was too busy being at University, drinking gin and listening to heavy metal with my biker friends… so all in all I feel like this album is a bit of a catch up for me, and bloody hell….I think I’m in love… here I was saying I’d never be an Indie kid… well their MySpace does class them as a ‘rock band’ so I guess that will do for me.
Rating: 4 / 5 - a few weaker songs drag down the rating but overall I would love to unwrap Brandon Flowers on Christmas Day!
Skip To: Human - this is my December anthem!
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison