The Killers Go Bold on ‘Wonderful Wonderful’

After a five-year hiatus, critics and listeners alike have awaited the Killers’ next move. In the years following “Battle Born,” an underwhelming and oddly angsty album, their fans (called “Victims”) have seen lead singer Brandon Flowers go solo (which he recently admitted was to give the band a break from performing), guitarist Dave Keuning and bassist Mark Stoermer opt to produce in the studio rather than play on stage, and Flowers’ wife, Tana, reveal her PTSD from an abusive childhood to the online Mormon community.

And the Killers basked in the anticipation. Flowers called their fifth LP “the closest thing we’ve done to ‘Sam’s Town,’ the album many consider to be their all-time (and perhaps unbeatable) best. He told NME, “Our new songs feel heavier than anything we’ve ever done.”

Released on Sept. 22, “Wonderful Wonderful” attempts to do too much. It’s a love song to Flowers’ wife, a dialogue about what it means to be a man, an eager yet self-conscious comeback, a sly opportunity to boast. That is not to say the album is completely disappointing. Their experimentation with funky beats and edgy themes succeeds in “Tyson vs Douglas” and “Run for Cover,” even if it sounds try-hard in the others. But the release tries to simultaneously play catch-up from years lost and release a deeply personal emotional buildup, the combination of which ultimately exhausts the album.

This is most evident in “Out of My Mind.” What could’ve been a heartfelt ballad to Tana Flowers is instead taken as a chance to name-drop big artists with whom they have performed: “Went back to back with Springsteen / You turned and rolled your eyes / So I told you about McCartney / And that's a heavy name to drop.” The last line consciously recognizes its bravado but not quite enough to rectify it, making the song less genuine and muddling its meaning.

The album’s title track is vastly different but almost as confusing. It opens with a synthesized horn, a rumbling drum, and distant, discordant beeping—yes, the Killers have long specialized (and largely succeeded) in the strange and obscure, but “Wonderful Wonderful” does nothing to tie the album together other than reference its cover art when Flowers begs, “Keep your ear to the shell.” (What are we even listening for?) It could have opened new territory for a kind of performance art but instead sets unclear expectations for the tracks that follow.

“Run for Cover” and “Tyson vs Douglas,” however, have star potential. The band originally wrote the former for their third studio album, “Day & Age,” but have since refined the lyrics to feature the Killers’ first overt political references, from corrupt senators to “fake news.” The song infuses the sound of the 2000s Killers in a nostalgic yet refreshing way: The electric guitar opening is reminiscent of their hit “Somebody Told Me” but with a more electronic and upbeat flair, and the drums fuel the melody’s synth-infused energy in classic Killers fashion. In “Tyson vs Douglas,” a vulnerable confession masked as an ode to the historic boxing match, Flowers worries about the fall of icons, including himself. He adopts Tyson’s perspective after his notorious defeat: “And I think of me / Feelin’ the slip again / Don’t wanna fall.” This bittersweet number is Flowers’ beautifully edgy and raw admittance that he can too clearly see the end of the Killers approaching, and it taints the rest of the album with a sense of panicked passion.

The album ends in a question: “Have All the Songs Been Written?” After a self-consciously experimental tracklist, the Killers seem to already know the answer. The song is a cheesy ending that reveals the band’s desperate hopes that one of their tracks will bring them back on top. It is also their last chance to strut, featuring a guest solo from British guitarist Mark Knopfler and a title suggested by Bono.

The excitement of the band’s reunion is palpable, but it does not go without a cockiness that suggests that they are well aware of their track record. “Wonderful Wonderful” is too grandiose to be intimate but too reminiscent of their poppy, post-punk melodies to cover new ground. It is undoubtedly the Killers’ most personal album to date, but it looks like the Victims will still be waiting for the band’s big comeback.

—Staff writer Kaylee S. Kim can be reached at kaylee.kim@thecrimson.com.