THE KILLERS: Wonderful Wonderful

The Killers are an essential presence in modern rock.  For 15 years, they've been bringing big, bright arena-ready Las Vegas showmanship to a genre full of pathos.  Somehow, Brandon Flowers and company have always mastered the bombastic, tongue-in-cheek disco-rock that U2 never quite got the hang of on their PopMart tour.

Their fifth album Wonderful Wonderful arrives amidst murmurs of band drama.  It's been five long years since Battle Born- their longest gap between records, by far- and now comes word that guitarist Dave Keuning and bassist Mark Stoermer have bowed out of touring.  Whatever they've been through backstage, here's hoping The Killers persevere, at least in the studio, because they're still capable of intermittent greatness.  

Wonderful Wonderful begins with something that sounds like an Ewok battle horn, on a sneaky, serpentine title track that could pass for Depeche Mode at their best.  The Man is a ballsy choice for first single; it could have been their jump-the-shark song if it didn't grow on you so hard.  Run For Cover is another one that sneaks up on you- the verses are more spoken than sung, and the guitar solo is weirdly detuned- but by third or fourth listen, it's right up there with their greatest hits.  Some Kind of Love might be the album's best track- ethereal, beautiful, spectacularly restrained.

Sam's Town is probably still their best album, but Wonderful Wonderful is more eclectic and nearly as great.  If this is what backstage drama sounds like, it's working.  The album closes on a track called Have All The Songs Been Written?  I would guess, not even close.  A-