Wonderful Wonderful(Deluxe)- The Killers Review

It's finally here. After all the anticipation of four singles and a bunch of over the top late night TV performances, the new The Killers album has come out. So let's jump right in!

Wonderful Wonderful, the title track and first track of the album, is a gigantic reverberating experimental piece that's okay, but I really don't see its point. I've listened to The Man tons of times before, and its masculine disco swagger never ceases to be the strutting pop rock arena-ready song that it is, a good song for the radio and perhaps even better in a gigantic stadium. This song is what helped revitalize The Killers after their not so good recent albums, and while not matching Mr. Brightside with everything from its opening words to its great breakdown for the bridge, it comes close. Rut is a quiet-ish modern take on classic crooning soft rock, which may be beautiful but would get boring after a couple listens. It may be meaningful but old soft rock doesn't need to be revisited, and this song is frankly not very appealing. Life To Come continues in that vein, in to a Bruce Springsteen like lethargy that's okay, but can't match tracks like the next one on the album, Run For Cover. A fast paced genre-mixer of an anthem, Run For Cover represents The Killers at their best, and instantly makes up for the Rut that Life To Come was in(not very funny, I know.) Tyson vs Douglas starts off pretty well, with a nice uptempo synth backed by basic drums that don't distract from the rest of the music, and clean electric guitar that nicely accents the song. The lyrics are also mainly good with pretty good singing from Brandon Flowers, and a driving bass line that really ties the song together as possibly one of the best songs yet on this album. Some Kind of Love, the promotional single for this album, and if you saw my review of it, a pretty good song, a gentle but still arena ready song. Blending the beautiful elements Strawberry Swing(Coldplay) with some of the atmospheric instrumental elements of X&Y(the album, Coldplay), and tying it all together with The Killer's distinctive flair, this makes an excellent song to come after the gigantic Wonderful Wonderful, The Man, and Tyson vs Douglas, to sort of ease away from heavier arena pop rock.

Now on to the B-sides. The first, Out Of My Mind, is another disco themed song, and is okay but not really that good compared to most of the A-sides, because of its mixed instrumentals that don't really make it one coherent piece of music. The Calling, a song about Saint Matthew, mixes a classic rock guitar with some other electronic elements very prevalent in this album, to a head-bobbing son that takes the swagger of The Man to make a gospel song that could be played on the likes of Radio X(one of the best rock radio stations). Have All The Songs Been Written? is hopeful, but a bit boring in both lyrics and instrumentals, with Money On Straight also faux-hopeful but this time with good enough instrumentals to be easy listening music. The remixes of The Man are both dance remixes, with the Jacques Le Cont remix being eclectic while the Duke Dumond is more stripped and house centered.

I'd say that overall, this album was decent. While there were many dud songs, The Man, Some Kind Of Love, Run For Cover, and Tyson vs Douglas almost make up for them but not enough for it to be worth it to buy the whole thing. I think its cool how they blend modern electronics with guitar and disco, but sometimes the energy of the song doesn't match up, and the formula isn't always spot on. I think that this album is okay, but I wouldn't listen to it as a whole again, except for possibly the best songs.