Battle Born by The KillersFreddie Matthews writes from London: Hopefully when you think of your favourite song by The Killers it would be their 2004 seminal classic, Mr. Brightside. That one song was voted ‘Song of The Decade’ on UK radio as well in the noughties. The intro to the song was also voted as one of the ‘Greatest Guitar Riffs of All Time’. Regardless of your opinion of the band and its overtly cool singer, Brandon Flowers, The Killers have sold over 16 million albums worldwide.
Battle Born is the new album by The Killers but is it the monumental piece of work we’ve all been anticipating? I certainly thought so at first. Having been a fan of the band for many years and in particular of the first album, Hot Fuss, which included their best selling single Mr. Brightside. But like many bands and artists it would seem that the bigger they get, the more predictable their sound becomes. I suppose like many successful bands the key consideration when recording any new material has to be: why change a winning formula when it sells as well as it already does? Battle Born’s release follows an 18 month break for The Killers. The album sold around 250,000 copies. Battle Born sold more in its first week of sales in the UK and US alone. The Killers
You wouldn’t think so but The Killers are a band whose sales success has dwindled from album to album since the release of the first album, Hot Fuss, in June 2004. They’ve never been a singles band and by that I mean that they sell many more albums than singles. Hot Fuss, Sam’s Town, Day & Age and now Battle Born have all achieved UK No. 1 album status as well as US Top 10. Both these markets require an impressive performance for such a feat.
There are just two decent songs from the album: Miss Atomic Bomb (a title very U2 in nature) and the title track to the album Battle Born. Naturally this, almost four years in the making, new album will sell and sell well but that’s surely a prerequisite based upon the band’s already established popularity. The burning question is this: Will Battle Born be The Killers’ most successful album to date? I would be very surprised if that would be the case but in saying that, 300,000 sales, in week 1 alone is still pretty impressive. 7/10 These extracts are compiled from the research and opinions done by Freddie Mathews over on Stirring Trouble Internationally- The Killers Album Battle Born- (A humorous take on news and current affairs).
Battle Born Derby Demons (Photo credit: crazbabe21)
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