Rating: 3/5 stars

Formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards) and Dave Keuning (guitar, backing vocals), adding bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. to the line-up a year later, The Killers were thrown into the spotlight, getting hit with an unprecedented wave of success.

With the release of “Hot Fuss” back in 2004, hit songs like “Mr. Brightside” and “Somebody Told Me” blasted their way through the airwaves. Their sound at the time was a refreshing blend of new wave and post-punk rock, with Flowers’ unique voice soaring high above every track.

They would never quite match the success of their debut album, but they would come close. “Sam’s Town” and “Day & Age” were two solid albums full of plenty of memorable songs, keeping the band relevant and at the tip of everybody’s tongues well into the late 2000s. It was not until the band took a hiatus back in 2010 that things really began to slow down, as the individual members stopped touring to work on their own projects. Although they returned a year later, they seemed to have lost much of the original hype that had surrounded them for so long.

“Wonderful, Wonderful” is the newest addition the group’s discography, a 43-minute dive back into the distinctly bright, colorful sound that the band is best known for. At this point, Flowers’ vocals are a lot more nostalgic than they are interesting, but they have not lost any of their original charm.

The choruses build up to massive walls of sound, filled with glossy synths and energetic guitar work from Keuning. The hooks tend to be a little cheesy, but that is part of what makes their fans like them so much. In other words, not much has changed.

“The Man” is a bouncy, groove-filled track that sounds so ridiculous that it almost seems like the band is making fun of itself. The lyrics are relentlessly corny, with Flowers regurgitating dozens of clichés: “I got gas in the tank, I got money in the bank. I got news for you baby, you’re looking at the man.” It is obvious the band is just playing around and not taking itself seriously, but that does not stop the track from being a little cringe inducing.

The next track, “Rut,” is a cute motivational tune, but it suffers from sounding dated and not in the good way, it brings Phil Collins’ soundtrack of “Tarzan” to mind,  with a recycled chord progression and drums soaked in reverb. It is so uplifting that it starts to grow stale and definitely is one of the weakest points on the album.

The strongest comes with “Run For Cover,” a hectic, fast-paced track that plays perfectly to the band’s strengths. It brings back the raw emotion for which “Hot Fuss” was praised, without sounding like they are rehashing old ideas. It wraps itself up in the right amount of time, not dragging itself out.

If The Killers have anything left in their tank after almost two decades, “Wonderful, Wonderful” is not showing that off. If anything, it shows a band that is reveling in its past, not willing to change their direction or experiment. To some of their hardcore fans, that might be a great thing, but to everybody else, it is just plain boring.

Photo provided by TheKillersMusic via YouTube.com