Welcome to Sam's Town

By Christina R.

When their first album, Hot Fuss, was released in 2004, The Killers deservedly rose to the status of "retro new wave" gods. If you're familiar with The Killers, you have come to learn the certain feeling of the songs that's indicative of the band, but some of the songs don't quite fit, for example "Somebody Told Me" followed by "All These Things That I've Done". Not that fitting is essential. It allows for diversity of styles while maintaining a sort of "new wave" blanket. It was what made the album great.

It was what made their new album, Sam's Town, released Oct. 4, so anticipated. "Great things are going to come of this band," you heard all summer long in 2004. And the singles kept coming. A new album was imminent. But, aside from the first single, and perhaps a few other tracks, Sam's Town falls short of expectations.

There's no denying that Sam's Town has that "The Killers" feel. But there just seems to be something to the first album that is missing in this one. For the most part, the fun new wave sound is kind of hackneyed, stale. It's like Hot Fuss but without the novelty. It's too "Killers." There's very little that's new and refreshing.

It's, dare I say, borderline boring.

Of course, there are a few select tracks that are just as great as the favorites from the first album. The third track, "When You Were Young", is the album's first single. I can see why: it sure is catchy. It has pounding electric guitar riffs. It has that little element that all the standouts from the first album had that you can't quite put your finger on. It's fun. It's one of the few tracks on this album that actually does anything. But I guess it's not enough.

Though Sam's Town is a solid effort (and an interesting concept album based around a skeevy casino in Vegas called, logically, Sam's Town), it's not exactly what would have been expected from The Killers' second album. As a debut album, it would have done all right. But the final verdict as a follow-up: disappointing.

Tracks worthy of your time: "When We Were Young", "Why Do I Keep Counting?", "Bling (Confessions of a King)", and "Sam's Town".