The Killers - "Flesh and Bone"

The Killers
Battle Born

"Flesh and Bone"

I've never been much of a Killers fan. Admittedly, their debut album, Hot Fuss, had some supremely catchy tunes. Songs like "Mr. Brightside" are among the best of what I call "Duane Reade songs" (songs I tend to hear on the radio in stores and other public places), and I remember the song "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" having a mean bass line. I gave a few listens to their second album, Sam's Town, and thought it was okay, but had lost interest in the group by the time their third record was released in 2008. I didn't bother to listen to it, but for some reason I was moderately interested in their newest LP and was pretty excited when it began on a high note.

But the album is a dud, but it begins with "Flesh and Bone," which has guilty pleasure written all over it. It's a bit too glam, too new wave-y; Brandon Flowers doesn't sing with much energy anymore. He's got great pipes but too often he sounds kind of bored and disiniterested. As predictable as this song is, I like the vocal hook in the chorus (when the background vocalists sing the song title). I can't bring myself to call this song particurly good (The Killers better not win any awards for it), but it was sort of pleasant. I think the part of me that likes this song is the part of me that finds "Don't Stop Believing" fun, on occasion, but that's okay.

For an album that needs to be exciting to be at all worthwhile, the vocals on Battle Born are often kind of flat, the drums are too low in the mix and not lively enough, and their synth-trumps-all-other-instruments ways are probably not for the best. You shouldn't listen to The Killers if you don't like synths, but they become kitsch if not tastefully done. In some ways this is an adult contemporary version of synth pop.

Dreary ballads and bad lyrics sink this ship, and it happens pretty quickly. "Here With Me"and "Heart of a Girl"are the guiltiest offenders and "Be Still" feels a bit too "boy band". The Killers are a very derivative band, and I think everyone knows that. They succeed when they're catchy enough that their flaws can be forgiven. That never happens on slow songs and when melody fails them, a sort of simple-mindedness pervades their recordings. "Flesh and Bone" is a pretty fun song and there are a few other decent ones here ("Deadlines and Commitments", "The Rising Tide" and "Battle Born"), but I can't really endorse the record as a whole.