THE KILLERS: Hot Fuss (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

There are many singles that have not aged in 10 or 20 years. All the great bands have one of them, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' for Nirvana, 'Welcome to the Jungle' for the Guns, 'Wonderwall' for Oasis. For The Killers, it's 'Mr Brightside', single from the first album "Hot Fuss" with more than a billion listens on Spotify. And it must be said that it deserves it. Being one of the very first compositions written by the band, this track gives off an urgency and a dynamism rarely equaled despite a rather raw and unmelodic vocal, a trademark that will follow The Killers all its existence without really handicapping it.

If 'Mr Brighside' will project The Killers directly under the spotlights, it is seconded by another hit from this same first album, 'Somebody Told Me'. Certainly less direct and more complex to apprehend notably because (or rather thanks to) a syncopated rhythm section of any beauty on its chorus, it offers, with its counterpart, a pleasure of listening that the following titles have a hard time to equalize. Not that the rest of the album is bad. One can appreciate the integration of a Gospel in 'All These Things I Have Done' or the pop 'Smile Like You Mean It' and its tampered vocal lines. But compared to the start of the album's that makes you dizzy and pushes you to press the "replay" button, the pale 'On Top', 'Believe Me Natalie' and 'Midnight Show' seem very bland. And it's not the (almost) ballad 'Everything Will Be Alright', with a vocal sometimes at the limit of accuracy that raises the bar.

First album and huge success for The Killers with its two worldwide hits that will cross time and make the band a must of the Rock. Unfortunately, it will have a hard time to keep this aura with the release of albums of uneven quality lacking one or two tracks with strong impact. And it's a pity because some of them are worth the detour... But this is another story. - Official website

THE KILLERS

HOT FUSS

AUTRE LABEL

ROCK