25 Records of Christmas, Day 6: The Killers

I’ve never been a huge fan of The Killers. I’ve always felt like they were kind of bland, and I never really got into any of their albums. I liked a bit of each album, but when it comes to a record, I’m a full-length kind of guy. Sure, I like singles just as much as the next person, but I like listening to the full-length album and seeing how those songs fit with the others, and the track listing order, and all the exciting aspects that make it such a nostalgic feel: listening to an album. Fortunately, I feel like The Killers have made that album that is a full-length masterpiece, at least to me.
As soon as you start listening to the band’s newest release, Battle Born, you’ll feel like you’re transported back to the 80’s. It’s such a special moment, reliving the glory days. Somehow, Brandon Flowers and company have accomplished it, capturing an era within an album. “The Way It Was” is a prime example. The track sounds like something you would have heard during Sixteen Candles or at the end of The Breakfast Club.

The Killers hail from Las Vegas, NV.

My favorite tracks are the first two on Battle Born. “Flesh And Bone” opens the record, with gang vocals and an infectious chorus that gets stuck in your head for days. But “Runaways” is probably the band’s most popular single since “Mr. Brightside” from the Hot Fuss days. Driving guitars and Flowers singing at the top of his lungs, with just a solid jam, takes you to that raw place where you feel like you can accomplish anything. The layering on this record is something you can’t let slip by you either. Intricate synth sounds over drum beats with live percussion, mixed with some stellar guitar work makes “A Matter Of Time” sound like such a grandiose track. 

Flowers also has such a way of words throughout his songwriting that only adds to the nostalgia. “Deadlines and Commitments” reminds me of the comfort of home, a place you can go to be safe. “Miss Atomic Bomb" puts you in the place right before an atomic bomb went off (appropriately) but it’s obviously a love song. The music is what takes you to that place. It’s a characteristic of this new album that I feel like wasn’t present the previous albums. It may have been there, but it’s so much more present this time around. I feel like this time, The Killers have found their niche. Make sure you don’t miss Battle Born.