The Killers – Day and Age Review – It Stinks
If you checked my previous thoughts on the Killers, you’d find some positive remarks and I’d be willing to go see them in concert. I was a pretty big fan of their two albums, Hot Fuss and Sam’s Town. Hot Fuss being the album that allowed them to breakthrough and was a solid album from start to end and Sam’s Town a more worthwhile album since it sacrificed accessibility but ended up being very good in the end anyway.
The Killers have been the internet’s darlings along with Kanye West over the past month but unlike West, the Killers aren’t exactly cool to like by any means and this music, plainly sucks (as you notice from the title).
Hmm I wonder where to start? How about to discussing the worst song of the year… “are we human or are we dancer(s)”. Flowers fails to enunciate the S and it’s a rather empty song that has an odd lyric that makes no sense. I can’t do enough justice to how much this song, totally sucks ass. It starts off as some start off slow new wave riff that just never progresses and just a lyric that works on zero levels.
The Killers do try to different things but maybe they should just stick to other things. On “Joy Ride” the Killers try to work in some African influenced beats and guitar riff that would be in some vein similar to Vampire Weekend but absolutely shitty. This song feels like its 15 minutes long. Instrumentation just does not flow, the chorus is cliché lyrically and everything else in-between sucks. My ears are put into submission for the repetitive last minute where we get the chorus and some “oh oh oh” throws in for good measure.
Speaking of more African influences, we have some sort of chanting in This Is Your Life. However it feels more or less like the producer and the Killers thought, “lets spice this song up by just sandwiching it African style chants so people don’t know it sucks”. It still sucks.
Are any positives on this album? I think the only bright spot, if you were digging is the track Spaceman. In this case Flowers finally sounds like a true lead singer here and it’s sticking with what the Killers do well, just mainstream upbeat pop music despite how people try so hard to make them cool. It’s a song that doesn’t overdo it in the trying to be different area and it’s one of the few songs that doesn’t feel contrived. I guess you can say the same for the track “I can’t stay”.
The Killers just aren’t a very good anymore, Flowers does nothing to make him seem brilliant. He wrote some of the worst songs of the year on this album and his bandmates didn’t help him either. Instead they tried to hide weak songs by putting in sounds and instruments that simply do not fit each song to cover it up. From song to song, it makes this album even more painful to listen to because there is no direction and not a single discernible way to describe WHAT the Killers have become.
Sure they get pats on the back for trying but if you can honestly say you can muster listening to this album, I feel sorry for you (if you need an explanation refer to the comments). This album has no proverbial meaning and it feels like a lame contrived attempt to appease to the increasingly “hip” fans of Vampire Weekend and MGMT.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Sure some songs are terrible and then some are mediocre which could merit a higher score but unlike other albums which have similar scores, this album just feels like a bunch of songs the Killers threw together so they get the CD out for Christmas time.
Please, do not buy this album as a Christmas gift. I’d rather get a sweater then this pile of crap.
Human by The Killers
-Yes, let the hounds come out how I shouldn’t give away mp3s and bash at the same time. However, wouldn’t it be wrong to not let people know that the song they’re downloading isn’t very good.
Though I wouldn’t say Human is good, it is not abysmal. I can see why you think so and somehow I can see why you think this about the whole album. I haven’t got it yet, but from what I have heard it is pretty much the same old Killers, 60% is bland and rest are good.