The Killers
Wonderful Wonderful

“Battle Born”, the previous studio album by The Killers, left several scars on the Las Vegas band.

The goal of Brandon Flowers and his bandmates was not to release another album they weren't fully convinced of, and with the new “Wonderful Wonderful”, they seem to have succeeded fully. In this regard, perhaps Flowers compared the work to the foundational “Sam’s Town”: not so much in terms of sound (of that splendid reinterpretation of the Springsteen sound, very little remains here) but in terms of attitude, cohesion, and conviction.

There's not a single filler track on this “Wonderful Wonderful”, and the band seems to have returned to a remarkable creative form. The production is handled by Jacknife Lee (recommended to the band by Bono, after a brief attempt with Ryan Tedder of One Republic went nowhere), and the recordings took place between the band's own Battle Born Studios, California, and Nevada.

There are a couple of significant collaborations: Mark Knopfler contributes to the meditative closing track “Have All The Songs Been Written?”, while actor Woody Harrelson provides a spoken word introduction to the beautiful “The Calling”, in full Dave Gahan And The Soulsavers style.

The album was introduced by two excellent singles: “The Man”, a disco-rock constructed around a sample of “Spirit Of The Boogie” by Kool & The Gang, and the stunning “Run For Cover”, a devastating number in true Killers style coming from the “Day & Age” sessions in 2008. The opening is entrusted to the title track, which impeccably reimagines the sound of U2 before their more restrained era.

There are no shortage of tracks imbued with a certain epic quality that The Killers have brilliantly expressed over the past decade, such as “Rut” and especially “Some Kind Of Love”, a synth-pop piece written including elements of Brian Eno's “An Ending (Ascent)”. And then there's some pleasant stadium grandeur, as in the potential hit “Life To Come”, and a nice nod to the never-forgotten “Hot Fuss” with the assertive “Tyson vs. Douglas”.

Brandon Flowers and his bandmates return with an excellent album, putting them back on track after the half-flop of Battle Born and promising sparks live.

Best track: Run For Cover