It’s been a rough time for The Killers. Since returning from hiatus, sessions for ‘Battle Born’ have included year-long recordings, numerous producers and the tragic death of long-time saxophonist Tommy Marth, as drummer Ronnie Vanucci Jr. admits the album ‘lives up to its name’. But have one of the world’s biggest bands lost their spark, or have rekindled the magic from their previous work?
Well, ‘Battle Born’ sees The Killers cast off the last of their indie beginnings and strut out towards stadium rock, allowing their inner-Springsteen to fully flourish with touches of U2 and 80’s anthems. An update on the rockier elements of ‘Sam’s Town’ and more distinctly American tales of desert nights, lost loves and nostalgia, it’s their most ambitious effort to date, and in some places recalls some of their greatest work.
They set their stall out with the storming ‘Flesh And Bone’; towering Flowers vocals, swelling chorus and full of bombast, but still unmistakeably The Killers, it all seems to be going swimmingly. Couple that with first single, ‘Runaways’, which recalls the rockier ‘When You Were Young’, with Pete Townshend guitars, stories about teenage rushes and runaway girls that echo Springsteen and stadium-sized sound, The Killers are back, bigger and trying harder than ever.
But in places ‘Battle Born’ struggles to hit those heights. ‘The Way It Was’, a soft ballad with nice lyrics, takes a few too many listens to get along with, ‘A Matter of Time’ sounds like a poorer ‘This River Is Wild’ with some ‘woah, woah, woah’s’ and title track ‘Battle Born’ is pleasant but forgettable. In its worst moments, it’s everything The Killers shouldn’t be; ‘Deadlines and Commitments’ is complicated and absent-minded, ‘Heart of a Girl’ starts slowly and doesn’t gain momentum and ‘From Here On Out’ indulges their love of country to once again disappointing results.
But no Killers album has been without its weak moments, and there are enough good moments to put ‘Battle Born’ respectably alongside their back catalogue. ‘Here With Me’, co-written with Travis singer Fran Healy, is an emotive piano ballad that fits among their finest, and ‘The Rising Tide’ is a pulsing 80’s anthem. ‘Miss Atomic Bomb’ nods heavily to ‘Mr Brightside’, recalling ‘the boy with the eager eyes’ and even featuring that iconic riff, but with the line ‘For a second there we’d won/We were innocent and young’, it again sits on the mantle as one of their most touching lines. The best moment comes in ‘Be Still’; a fragile, touching and at times chillingly poignant and tender, it’s the cherry on the cake.
‘Battle Born’ doesn’t scale the heights of ‘Hot Fuss’ or ‘Sam’s Town’, while is not as varied or inventive as ‘Day & Age’, but is good enough to ensure it is the next step on their journey towards being one of the world’s biggest bands, if not quite their defining work. More sophisticated and stadium-ready, Flowers and Co. maintain their climb the U2 and Springsteen heights they crave.
HIGHLIGHTS: Runaways, Here With Me, Be Still
Another good (if not great) album from The Killers, and here's my personal favourite track, Be Still, for your enjoyment.
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