Killers – Day & Age (2008)

Day & Age, the third album by Killers, is a prime example of a situation where a band that got success early on starts to embrace their mainstream success by adopting all the mainstream cliches. On this album, Killers sound overly bloated and nice guitar rock sounds have been replaced with soulless synth pop sounds. The result is a plastic sounding album that sounds like it was specifically produced to make lots of money. Killers obviously was never a very alternative band. Even their first album was very predictable and commercial, but at least it sounded authentic and you could hear the ambition of a young band. You could already see the signs on the second album, but the songs on that album were still more or less similar to the first album. The third album, for many bands, is the one where they define the future of the band and sadly, for Killers, that future didn't look too bright.


As always, Killers is a master of making catchy pop melodies. That's why I really liked their first album. It was a great album to play for indie disco crowds. Songs like Mr. Brightside and Somebody Told Me were massive hits back in the day. But, the sounds really make all the difference for a band like this. I can imagine some of these songs sounding a lot better if the production overload would have been toned down slightly. What astonishes me with albums like this is that they eventually end up selling more than the original albums that were kind of good. Then again, who am I to say anything, I did after all buy this album myself. Although, I only bought it when it was already cheap on sale. Anyway, this was it for me. Following this album I lost all of my interest for Killers.

The album starts with rough electric guitars and, believe it or not, synth horns in the song Losing Touch. The song sounds like it's lagging throughout. It should be quicker to work. Also, the sounds are horribly plastic. Next up is the big hit of the album, Human. This song has much potential in terms of the melody, but the sounds are awful dance pop with cheap sounding synth sounds and dance beats. Also, the lyrics "Are we human or are we dancer" do not particularly convince. Also, the vocals sound a bit like they were sung in a karaoke. Spaceman is also a bloated hit song, but at least there are some more positive elements in this song. The rhythm is nicely in place and the song has nice sense of drama building up suspense. The vocals are also better. If only they hadn't used such plastic sounding synth sounds. Joy Ride is one of the worst songs on this album. The funky groove of the song is probably trying to imitate Franz Ferdinand's songs, but the result is an awful mishmash of genres with cheesy horns. The lyrics are also filled with American commercialism. A Dustland Fairytale tones the sounds down a bit and it's quite a good thing because it gives time to breathe a little. Then again, songwriting-wise, this song is like a Disney song and again, it has been infused in cheap sounding synth sounds. This Is your Life has some strange vocal harmonies and galloping bass lines. Overall, the song isn't that awful, but it's just a bit boring. I Can't Stay has even some acoustic guitars which sounds very fresh after so many songs of synth blast. Unfortunately, the song isn't very interesting in terms of songwriting. It feels like it's just staying where it is and the saxophone solo towards the end is really cheesy. Neon Tiger, as a song title, probably describes the album quite well. I have trouble understanding who is the target audience for this music. It's too commercial and poppy for indie kids, too rock for dance pop people and too plastic for rockers. The World We Live In is actually the worst song on the album. The sounds are absolutely horrible and there's not much of songwriting to grasp either. It sounds like a bad 80's hard rock hit. The album ends with Goodnight, Travel Well. Mostly it's just epic sounding synth wall with some drumming and singing here and there. There are some massive explosive elements towards the end, but the melodies and vocals in that part just sound a bit off-key.

At least there's one positive thing when bands get really popular and bloated. Usually they have really  fancy looking music videos. The video for Human happens in a desert where the band plays with their band. There are also some live animals, such as tigers and lions in the video. Storywise, there's not that much interesting in the video, but it's a pleasure to watch because of cinematography of the video.

I've been really harsh in this post and I have to say that this is not by a long shot the most awful music  out there and I don't think this would really trouble me at all coming from a commercial radio station, I would maybe even be slightly delighted. The problem is that when you've really liked some band at the start of their career, it breaks your heart when they ruin what they have.

Listen to the album on Youtube.