Imploding the Mirage — epic Lawful Neutral sixth act from The Killers / review
Their latest LP sees the band let loose within the bounds of their signature sound.
The roar echoes far and wide in pure Killers style when Brandon Flowers belts out “And now I think I know why” on ‘My Own Soul’s Warning’, Imploding The Mirage’s opening track. This moment in particular crystallizes what years (decade(s)!) of touring and headlining festivals around the world has done for the Nevada natives with a strange fascination with homicide. Heaps of confidence and assurance in their craft separate the ‘Somebody Told Me’ days from today’s three-piece act (officially four, but indefinitely one member short since Dave Keuning — guitar — stepped away in 2017 for who knows how long). Sixteen years since their debut haven’t changed the essence of the band’s music; instead, they seem to have zeroed-in on their ability to galvanize with pop rock dazzle meant to be sung (screamed?) back at them in an arena near you.
Going into Imploding The Mirage expecting anything other than what the band has been steadily delivering since 2004’s Hot Fuss isn’t the best way to approach this album. Understand the band has had to come to terms with the realization that their earlier records were such commercial successes (and considered their best by a large fraction of the fandom per fan pages and online communities ie. reddit) that re-creating anything of that caliber would take extraordinary effort (and a dash — ok, a spoonful — a handful? — of luck). 2012’s Battle Born and 2017’s Wonderful Wonderful weren’t strong predictors for Imploding The Mirage’s explosive return to basics — just like The Strokes’ 2011 Angles and 2013’s Comedown Machine didn’t foreshadow last year’s brilliant The New Abnormal. Yet the band has delivered their strongest project in a decade, casting a wide net without diluting the sound they’ve been cultivating along the way.
There are hints of past work throughout the record, maybe most notably the Human underlying interpolation of Caution. Still, if the past serves the present, it’s mostly as a supporting character. Imploding The Mirage sounds current, drawing from the band’s adept sense of nostalgia only to provide refreshed takes that fit the moment. Collaborations are rare and the two that did make their way onto the record go out of their way to show who’s in charge. The first, ‘Lightning Fields’, features a verse from k.d. lang, who recreates Brandon Flowers’ own late mother addressing her husband. It makes sense to have the Canadian singer-songwriter on the song narratively speaking but the musical gains are not noticeable. Her vocals are flattened to the extent it might take a minute to take note of the fact she has come in and she ends up providing little to no contrast to a song on which she sounds like an overly expeditious guest. Natalie Mering doesn’t follow this in-and-out model on ‘My God’, quite the contrary. She supports Brandon across every chorus iteration and is given space on a bridge (strangely pitched a bit too high for comfort). She doesn’t only perform, there is a notable Weyes Blood songwriting twist on a track that still feels like a staple The Killers song: in particular, the synth dip that precedes the chorus has Mering written all over it and I, for one, love to hear it.
While there is an undeniable honing of the band’s sound in Imploding The Mirage, the record also offers a broadening of the palette to preserve the mass-appeal that’s made it possible for the Vegas band to play in some of the largest venues around the globe. This expansion takes the form of genre excursions for one, with the country allure of ‘Blowback’, the glam rock of ‘Fire In Bone’ and the chameleon ‘When The Dream Run Dry’ that runs loops around several niches without ever committing to any single one.
Appealing far and wide also means gravitating towards the universal — stepping into boxes so all-encompassing they might as well not exist. True love and spirituality and their intermingling are the bread and butter of the record. Imploding The Mirage foregoes the ‘love is blind’ adage completely: Flowers sounds so convinced of the healing power of love and a belief in the persistence of feelings and relationships beyond mortality (note the noncoincidental correlation with Flowers’ Mormon faith teachings) that the album’s universe is full of figures “standing in the lightning field of love” (‘Lightning Fields’), laden with the saving grace of “the coveted touch of a girl in love” (‘Dying Breed’) and existential dread turned romantic (“Can two become one?” — ‘Running Towards A Place’). The only risk is alienating bitter Bettys like yours truly, a minority in a sea of listeners that year for relatable content everywhere they look — bitter Bettys like yours truly also admittedly yearn for relatable content. The band is not betting against the house with their choices of symbolism and subject matters; after all, along with Time and Death, Love still holds the title of most consecrated theme in art. Can three become one? Love death with time? Time your death with love?
While there is no dramatic thematic overhaul in Imploding The Mirage, the band’s hard-earned confidence pays off in unexpectedly sensational bursts of energy. Two occurrences especially come to mind. The opening number cuts to the chase and takes the unknowing listener by surprise after a short elegiac introduction. ‘My Own Soul’s Warning’ fuels a torch that the band keeps passing among themselves along the first half of the album. The track has a communal quality that normalizes shouting on tape less than two minutes into the opus. Most remarkable of all is that this feat feels totally appropriate and cathartic without ever leaning into *eye-roll* territory. ‘Dying Breed’ makes for another sublime moment. It’s the only track that builds up for an extended period and has you tapping your foot in anticipation across the two minute incremental ascent. The rise is only made sweeter by the release when drums come in, triggering recurrent thunder growls and an impression that something incredibly momentous has just unrolled before our own ears. Perhaps The Killers’ greatest strength is their ability to not only create the moment, but also to sustain it.
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Listen to the album here (Spotify)
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