A few decent songs can't outshine this record's over-produced stadium rock. The Las Vegas rockers' latest just doesn't have the same sparkle.
From the evidence of Sam’s Town and now Day & Age, The Killers appear to be in serious danger of following the trajectory established by Oasis and The Strokes: produce a bunch of brilliant music early in your career, then release a string of increasingly unimpressive follow-up albums. Certainly, on Day & Age, there’s little sign of the vitality and imagination that so distinguished the Las Vegas quartet’s debut, Hot Fuss. Instead, what we have are a few decent tracks in amongst an awful lot of dull and over-produced stadium rock.
The opening ‘Losing Touch’ illustrates much of what’s wrong with Day & Age. It actually starts out promisingly enough, with Bowie-esque horns and a lyric also reminiscent of the Dame’s mid-‘70s peak (“You sold your soul like a Roman vagabond”). However, any idiosyncratic touches are swiftly pushed aside in favour of a bland and generic rock tune, which unfortunately concludes with a genuinely horrible guitar solo.
Equally disappointing are ‘Human’ and ‘Spaceman’, the former an effort at what I can only describe as “stadium dance” (which is as unappealing as it sounds), the latter a vain attempt at capturing some of New Order’s glacial majesty. Thankfully, things do pick up with the album’s best track, ‘Joy Ride’, a funky tune with a cracking disco rhythm.
There is actually a noticeable improvement in the second half of Day & Age, with the acoustic rhythms of ‘I Can’t Stay’ and the ominous atmospherics of ‘Goodnight, Travel Well’ proving very impressive.
Nonetheless, the album only sporadically rises above mediocrity. Nowhere on Day & Age is there a song comparable in quality to ‘Smile Like You Mean It’, ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ or ‘Andy, You’re A Star’. In truth, The Killers would benefit from stripping away the ultra-slick production sheen that now smothers their music, and writing a few songs that rely on understatement rather than bombast for their power. Sometimes less really is more.
The Killers frontman is going solo for the second time.
Read More Jimmy Kimmel features on the band's Christmas charity single.
Read More It all goes down in Belfast this August.
Read More The Killers have debuted the video for ‘Just Another Girl’, one of the two new tracks from their Direct Hits ‘Best Of’, which drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. has tersely dismissed as “a douchie move; a contractual thing.”
Read More 'Shot At The Night' is one of two new songs set to feature on their forthcoming compilation.
Read More With a bill bookended by Cali sister act Haim and Vegas headliners The Killers, the Phoenix Park seems to have relocated to the Pacific Time Zone for one day only...
Read More The Killers are on their way to Ireland. Which just happens to be their most successful territory in the world. On the countdown to their Phoenix Park date, in a rare interview, lead singer Brandon Flowers reveals his fear of flying, describes how mobile phones have tipped us into a nightmare world - and recalls his hostile TV encounter with athiest scientist, Richard Dawkins...
Read More "I didn't expect it to be so full-on!", says the Killers frontman...
Read More
We also meet QOTSA, Jake Bugg, Sigur Rós and Haim...
Read More The Las Vegas rockers will play here this summer, along with some very special guests...
Read More The Killers’ Ronnie Vannucci talks university degrees, solo projects and singing in the shower...
Read More The Killers might not be leading the cool stakes anymore, but when they can bash out this many hits to that many fans on a regular basis, does it really matter? I guess we’ll see the next time...
Read More
Brandon and pals ditch the eyeliner and the bad moustaches, return to stadium roots
Read More
Frontman says it will "definitely" happen this year...
Read More
You can download ‘Happy Birthday Guadalupe’ now!
Read More
They've also recorded a new song for the Twilight sequel.
Read More
Dave Keuning of The Killers reveals that Oxegen ranks higher than Glasto in their eyes
Read More The band churn out the dreariest material from both Sam’s Town and Day & Age, and – although I’m definitely in the minority – I find myself feeling a bit bored.
Read More Hot Press met guitarist Dave Keuning last night in the Dublin O2.
Read More Current Hot Press cover stars The Killers have crashed into the No.1 slot in Ireland with their new album Day & Age.
Read More They've waved goodbye to Sam's town, and gone for the stadium rock jugular with their new Day & Age album.
Read More The Killers launch into 2009 with February shows in the O2, Dublin and the Odyssey, Belfast.
Read More Hot Press can exclusively reveal that The Killers are to play a special intimate show at Dublin's Academy.
Read More The Killers do a lap of honour on August 21 when they play Marlay Park as part of a three-night series of gigs in the Rathfarnham venue.
Read More A respectable collection which raises the question: why do the Killers pad their albums out with mediocre filler, when they have at least some decent alternative material to spare?
Read More As previously revealed on hotpress.com, The Killers will headline the Tennents Vital show in Belfast this August. Now organisers have confirmed support acts, as well as a change of venue.
Read More The second day of this summer's Tennents Vital gig in Belfast will be headlined by The Killers.
Read More They’ve embraced the big sound of America but The Killers still aren’t fully comfortable with the burdens of stardom, reveals frontman Brandon Flowers.
Read More The singer is actually much more assured onstage than the last time I saw The Killers, at the Olympia in 2004, when his inhibitions seemed to be holding him back.
Read More The Killers are to close the main stage of Oxegen 2007, it was revealed at the official Oxegen launch today.
Read More Annual article: What were the highest-rated albums and singles by the HP crew? We count them down here.
Read More The long-awaited Killers concert tonight (November 30) has been cancelled as illness strikes the band.
Read More Having sold-out their previously announced Point Theatre date in less than 15 minutes, The Killers have announced additional Dublin shows in the RDS Main Hall on February 27 and 28.
Read More Sam’s Town suggests that the newly face-fuzzed Brandon Flowers has contracted a serious dose of Bruce-llosis (a quick scan of the album’s titles yields a number of Boss buzzwords: “river”, “town”, “Jonny”, “wild”). No bad thing necessarily, but any rock band without the E-Streeters’ skill or Springsteen’s Steinbeckian grasp of American history should beware of straying across the wrong side of the New Jersey tracks and ending up in Bon Jovi-ville.
Read More Sam’s Town consistently grandstands to the bleachers, makes cheap plays for the listener’s emotions and foolhardily flaunts with the conventions of good taste. Just like a great rock ‘n’ roll record should.
Read More Their debut Hot Fuss sold over 4 million copies and in the process set The Killers up as one of the brightest young hopes of the modern era. On the eve of the release of their second album Sam’s Town, the band look like settling for nothing less than U2-sized supremacy. Now, if only Brandon Flowers would shave off that, ahem, controversial face fuzz.
Read More As predicted by Hot Press, Las Vegas group The Killers have found time to visit Dublin during their European tour.
Read More Given that The Killers’ opening string of near classic singles, ‘When You Were Young’ is a bit of a shock at first, being apparently devoid of any kind of hook. Give it a few listens however, and its subtle charms start to reveal themselves. They haven’t messed with the format too much, but there is a noticeable toughening up of the sound and an almost Springsteen-esque epic rock feel. Not the best record of the fortnight, but certainly the biggest and potentially most intriguing.
Read More We get the first whisperings of a return from Las Vegas's The Killers.
Read More Feelgood band of the summer you say? See what The Killers have to tell hotpress.com.
Read More
How did Brandon Flowers, Ronnie Vannucci, Dave Keuning and Mark Stoermer go from the Las Vegas dive bar circuit to selling four million copies of their debut album, Hot Fuss? On the eve of the band's highly-anticipated Oxegen 2005 appearance, Stuart Clark talks to the people involved in the making of The Killers.
Read More Yet to release the next single from Hot Fuss, The Killers are already in the studio working on their follow-up album
Read More No doubting their status as one of the bands of 2004, but isn’t it a touch early for the Killers to be reissuing their singles?
Read More They may be one of the hottest bands of the year, but Las Vegas synth fiends The Killers are planning to cool off this Christmas with some well-earned down-time and a skiing holiday in Utah. But not before they’ve discussed texting Charlize Theron, hanging with Elton John and that David Bowie tribute with Stuart Clark.
Read More Win wristbands to see The Killers' Dublin in-store ahead of their sold-out Olympia gig!
Read More The Killers have announced their first, long overdue Dublin headliner
Read More The Killers come across as an inspired celebration of all that is great in rock and roll’s glorious past.
Read More There’s a transatlantic feel to the brilliant pop of these Las Vegas rockers.
Read More They might hail from the bright lights of Las Vegas but the debut album from latest buzz band The Killers displays some serious Anglophile tendencies.
Read MoreFor information including benefits, key facts, figures and rates for advertising with Hot Press, click below
Advertise 
