The Killers
Battle Born
Alt-rock
On its newest album Battle Born, The Killers cranks up the synthesizers and takes listeners back to the 1980s, complete with inciting anthems and rock ballads. It’s been four years since the band’s last release, but Battle Born sounds like a continuation of the previous studio albums.
Most of the songs on this record are slow tales of woe centering on the theme of overcoming the “rising tide.” The lyrics of each song are simply clever and thoughtfully relatable. Everyone remembers a time when — as the track “Battle Born” puts it — you’re “up against the wall” and struggling to find a way out.
In general, the ’80s-influenced approach permeates the new LP, relying on vocalist Brandon Flowers’ commanding pipes, crawling guitar melodies and almost Queen-like backing vocals.
However, the diversity is lacking from song to song. The ballads are diverse in themselves with the eclectic mix of instruments, but almost every song sounds too similar. It would be exciting to hear a gutsy hard rock number that jumps around, similar to the style the band flirts with in the bass drum-heavy song “A Matter of Time.”
But Killers fans will be pleasantly surprised at a familiar guitar riff heard in “Miss Atomic Bomb.” Three and a half minutes in and listeners’ ears will perk up when they hear the iconic riff from “Mr. Brightside” subtly in the background.
It’s true The Killers’ sound doesn’t change much in Battle Born and probably won’t in future albums. But when the band continues to nail it, it’s hard to complain.
Dive verdict: 3 of 5 stars
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