Released: 2012

Genres: Heartland Rock, Pop Rock

The Musiquarium’s Battle Born Review Score: 5 out of 10

The Killers’ Brandon Flowers has never been discreet about his love for Bruce Springsteen; from the similarities between When You Were Young and the boss’ own Born to Run, to songs like A Dustland Fairytale, the influence has been apparent since their sophomore album, Sam’s Town. Where Springsteen once inspired Flowers to write generational anthems (like the aforementioned When You Were Young), the songs on Battle Born seem like they were written with Springsteen in mind as crutch, not just as an influence.

Flesh and Bone is a middle of the road opener that leaves little impact. Runaways is basically the same template as Springsteen’s Thunder Road, but worse (and yet, it’s still one of the better songs here). Miss Atomic Bomb is an American Graffiti era take on young romance.

Despite the misleading title, most of Battle Born consists of ballads, making it quite boring and lacking in much of any thrills, though I’m sure it has its female audience, due to the sentimentality and tenderness of these songs. The Killers went from having one of the best debuts of the 2000s, to saccharine pop and dull ballads.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view The Killers on Discogs.

Back to the 2012 Album Guide or the The Killers Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard