The Killers
Sam's Town

THE REVIEW

Two years after their dazzling debut album, The Killers demonstrate their talent for the second time, pulling out of the hat a second album of stunning quality, described by Brandon Flowers himself as one of the best albums of the last twenty years, and I fully agree with him: there are two particular reasons why I love this album; one is the captivating artwork: "Sam's Town" is indeed the only album with a goat on the cover that doesn't evoke scorn, hilarity, or contempt in me, and the other is the very structure of the album: by listening to it dozens of times, studying particularly the flow in which the songs follow one another, and examining the lyrics, I have come to the conclusion that "Sam's Town" is an undeclared concept album, a kind of film without images that tells a story that everyone is free to interpret as they wish.

There is a sort of red thread that links all the songs which, in my view, represent different moments and emotions in the life of a fictional character, perhaps Brandon Flowers himself or maybe not: the prelude to the story is one of the most exciting episodes of the entire album, the title track, "Sam's Town," with that bold intro where guitar, bass, and electronics merge, and Brandon Flowers launches into one of the most successful and daring performances of his career, particularly in the overwhelming and very effective chorus; the song fades slowly to introduce us to the real beginning of our story: a piano line and Brandon Flowers' voice, that's all, pure and simple beauty, this is "Enterlude," which in just under fifty seconds ferries the listener towards the passionate crescendo of the first single, "When You Were Young"; the Killers' song I love the least, but that expresses a stylistic taste in the fusion between rock and melody that has few equals in the world. Breathtaking, however, is the next pairing, which almost blends into a single musical discourse, a single stream of consciousness: "Bling (Confessions Of A King)," with its somewhat melancholic but at the same time intense rock atmosphere, heartfelt and crowned by a beautiful bass line that makes me think of a hypothetical journey through the great plains of America, among fields, uncultivated prairies, and villages, and then "For Reasons Unknown," more intimate, more reverberating, and noble with a somewhat drunken but rarely beautiful chorus.

And then comes the keystone of the album, I still remember when I could stay tuned to MTV for even half an hour, enduring all sorts of rubbish in the hope they would play that song: "Read My Mind," a ballad of sublime beauty, a snippet of melody that gently enters the veins and never leaves, the most beautiful Killers' song together with "All These Things That I've Done," for which a stunning video was made, perfectly in line with the level of the song. To awaken the listener from ecstasy, there's the bitter "Uncle Johnny," a dirty, cadenced rock with an obsessive riff that follows the entire song. A separate chapter for "Bones," another chapter I don't love madly, perhaps because I can't assign it a well-defined position in my hypothetical concept album, but the song in itself is very pleasant and catchy, with the Mexican-like arrangements adding a touch of originality.

And so we've reached almost the end of the journey, but our Guys still have something in store for us: a final trio of harrowing beauty: "My List," a dark ballad, very intimate, cadenced and crowned by a truly moving crescendo finale, and then "This River Is Wild," an emotional storm with a stunning chorus and another moving ending, this time descending, the worthy closure of this perfect circle is the anthemic "Why Do I Keep Counting?," a perfect synthesis of the two previous tracks, with that sweet and somewhat bewildered start to the sound of a music box and the wonderful choral refrain, which sounds like a passionate and heartfelt plea for help, fading into the outro "Exitude," that closes the circle just as "Enterlude" had opened it, beautifully and on tiptoe. I have nothing else to say, except that I am sincerely impressed by the beauty and the multitude of sensations this album can give if you completely abandon yourself to its flow.

“There’s a plane and I am flying, there’s a mountain waiting for me, oh these years I’ve been so trying…”