The Killers - Day & Age: Review of the New Album
Sam's Town's Successor Offers a New Side to the Killers
Feb 18, 2009
The album has gone double platinum in the UK alone, debuting at number one and at number six in the US. Day & Age, the Killers third studio release, is a step away from the usual Killers fare of 'MR. Brightside and 'When You Were Young'.
Great tracks nonetheless, however, the new album has seen Brandon Flowers and his band take a new musical direction. A third album is important for a band, as it often signals experimentation, a move away from their established sound. Day & Age is certainly a new direction for the band, but a welcome one.
Flowers' Lyrics
The record opens with an excellent opener, the catchy 'Losing Touch'. Throughout the album Flowers is asking the big questions. On 'Human', the first single taken from the album, he questions where the human race has come to, socially, morally and emotionally; "Pay my respects to grace and virtue, send my condolences to good, give my regards to soul and romance, they always did the best they could".
'Spaceman', one of the album's standout tracks, is as catchy a Killers track as you will find, with a chorus filled with hooks as Flowers sings, "The star-maker says "it ain't so bad", the dream-maker's going to make you mad, the spaceman says everybody look down, it's all in your mind", possibly an allusion to the perceived grandeur of fame not being everything people imagine it to be.
A Different Killers
'Joyride' is a decent Killers song, if a little flamboyant. In fact, the band has made use of Sax breaks, disco and steel-drums across the whole record. Flowers was always a good songwriter but Day & Age has seen him leapfrog many of his contemporaries with some exceptionally crafted lyrics. He is unafraid to lay out his insecurities and beliefs.
The audience is treated to a record that is lyrically cryptic, honest and impassioned. Halfway through the album becomes more understated with 'A Dustland Fairytale', 'This is your Life' and the wonderful 'I Can't Stay'. 'Neon Tiger' and 'The World We Live In' build the album up once more, for 'Goodnight, Travel Well' to come in, the band's attempt at an epic, show-stopping closer.
It is a good song but, ultimately, it is not what it aspires to be. With Day & Age the Killers have abandoned the posturing, American-style stadium rock of Sam's Town, taking on a whole new dynamic altogether. The band have yet to make a bad record.
Even Sawdust, their B-sides release is better than many bands' studio releases. Day & Age is a polished, adventurously produced pop-rock record. It stands head and shoulders above the work of many of their peers and is arguably their best album to date.
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