It's been a long time since the bass sounded this good in the music of The Killers. They give the best of themselves in the first seconds of dense and atmospheric album opening. Unfolding of the album with title track reminded me of long nocturnal rides on the highways of self-knowledge. The same energy continues to be transmitted through the first single The Man that will inevitably mark this era of the band. The auto-irony that permeates the lyrics serves as an instrument for Flowers to question his position in life ad a man, father, husband and frontman. After a creative block, he wonders "are all the songs already sung" which is weird considering his recent solo sophomore record The Desired Effect. Truth to be told, the desired effect is absent here. Maybe because we expected too much from the band who deserves its high position on the music scene.
Expectations are big, and everything you expect will be used against you. In the past decade, The Killers have released two albums and noted that they are aware how their previous effort was slothful as they weren't engaged and candid enough. We also expected a lot because the first three promotional singles offered a different aesthetic of the band, so we hoped that The Killers reinvented themselves, or at least that they have freshened up. The reality is quite the opposite. As a songwriter, Flowers still bites sentimentality and nostalgia, comparing his current self with the previous version of himself. He looks upon himself from younger days. It is too early for middle age crisis and blowing autoreflection out of proportion after which big epiphany is suppose to emerge.
The Killers sound like they are totally sucked into the sound of the eighties with just a sprinkle of contemporary electronic elements. Incorporation of such elements saves them from comparisons to rock gods such as U2, Dire Straits or Springsteen. My biggest issue with the narrative of Wonderful Wonderful is that there are too many indicators of overconfidence, as If Flowers is making fun of his past experiences and mental issues. Still, after colossal album opening followed by two singles and pretty cool ending track which samples Woody Harrelson's biblical recital from the movie The Calling, you can not avoid but concluding that Wonderful Wonderful is far more coherent than its predecessor. Dirty bass is the best facet of this album, and I am glad to hear that The Killers found this domain suitable for their evolution.
However, this record falls short in comparison to Day and Age or Hot Fuss. The Killers start to sound like an obsolete group with songs for dudes who struggle with middle age crisis. Sorry not sorry.
