Brandon Flowers traded in his eyeliner for a mustache. In case you have been living under a rock, accompanying the new mustache is his band, the Killers, latest record, Sam's Town.
With their follow up to their commercially successful debut, Hot Fuss, Sam's Town, finds the Killers ditching their hometown Vegas glam garments for a more Texas hold 'em, cowboy getup. They took a gamble with their sense of style, but unlike their appearance, their sound on Sam's Town does not depart too much from their debut. In fact, they sound more like showmen than cowboys. While the Killers still have a handful of energetic, passionate tracks on Sam's Town, some fail to make the standards they could live up to.
The record starts off strong with the title track, ""Sam's Town,"" which is incredibly powerful with beaming energy, heavy synth, bass and guitar. The song is solid, as it keeps building energy until the end where Flowers layers his vocals into a booming finale. The energy keeps building with their single ""When You Were Young,"" maintaining a sense of force and flawlessness, with the song structure being reminiscent of ""Mr. Brightside.""
As the album continues, it's like rolling the dice in terms of solid content. They tend to be too formulaic and superficial in their writing, becoming too predictable or over the top as they attempt to reproduce ""Mr. Brightside,"" ""Somebody Told Me"" and ""All These Things That I've Done"" on Hot Fuss.
""Bling (Confession of a King)"" and ""The River is Wild"" both illustrate that the Killers are pushing their limits, as they clutter their music and pour on too much unnecessary sound. In these cases, pushing their potential makes the songs lose focus, and become confusing and unfulfilling.
While they try to experiment with Flowers' vocals on ""For Reasons Unknown,"" it does not work in his favor. It starts with minimal sound that quickly changes and becomes too packed with vocals and instruments like an unwanted slap in the face.
Completely ditching the synth on ""Uncle Johnny"" leaves the song sounding one-dimensional. Without the synth, a certain flare is lost and they become a sub-par rock band. The end of the song, they layer vocals with a choir, but that fails to make up for what is lost in their sound.
They do shine once again on ""Read My Mind,"" which starts off with a delicate synth and the drums come into the mix. Perhaps the reason this song succeeds is because it is more refreshing, since they slowly build up intensity and do not put it all on the table right away.
Again, a Killers album just would not be complete without some sort of epic ballad. ""Why Do I Keep Counting?"" could, perhaps, be the most innovative track on the album. Here they use a different synth setting and build up sound into a booming, soulful chorus at the end. This song is much more deep and complex than the others.
Sam's Town is not going to be an album where the Killers hit the jackpot, but it does have its share of catchy songs and is a fair sophomore effort. Still, it lacks a certain depth and dynamic, and their sound feels forced.
Just as Flowers has taken a risk with his mustache and the band is experiencing a wardrobe malfunction, the odds are approximately 50/50 of a song being good on the album. But when it's good, they are definitely on target. Hopefully Flowers is just bluffing, will shave and reapply his eyeliner and maybe the rest will fold.
