The Killers will release their 4th studio album, entitled Battle Born on September 14th, 2012! Created over the last year and a half, Battle Born is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2008’s hit-spawning album Day & Age. Epic first single “Runaways” premieres today and will be released to all digital service providers on July 17th.
Battle Born, named after the words emblazoned on the Nevada state flag, in addition to sharing its name with the band’s recording studio, is everything Killers fans have waited for since the band announced they would be taking a short hiatus at the start of 2010. The Vegas-based 4-piece – Brandon Flowers (vocals/keyboards), Dave Keuning (guitars), Mark Stoermer (bass), and Ronnie Vannucci (drums) – had toured for eighteen months straight in support of Day & Age, from playing their own shows in some of the world’s most prestigious venues – Royal Albert Hall, Madison Square Garden – to headlining massive festivals in every corner of the globe. By the time this run ended, the band had sold over 15 million copies worldwide of their previous albums, Hot Fuss, Sam’s Town, and Day & Age, and had become one of the world’s biggest rock ‘n’ roll bands in the process. Yet, they found themselves at a crossroads: nearly seven consecutive years of recording, releasing an album, and touring had left them ready to take time off. In the ensuing hiatus, three of four Killers released solo albums to critical accolades, each showing their own musical roots through the directions their albums took. Then, in 2011, the band made their first live appearance in over a year, headlining the inaugural Lollapalooza festival in Chile. The magic was undeniable; what The Killers did best, they did best together. Days later, they found themselves back in their studio – Battle Born – once more.
The songs came out quickly, starting with the album’s rousing lead single “Runaways,” followed by the record’s heart-string-tugging emotional gravity-center “Here With Me,” and the stadia-quaking electro-rock of “Flesh & Bone.” By the time the band had satisfactorily refined the body of songs, they put together a dream team of producers, recording in fits and starts to work with as many as possible, trying new things with each. The list of those involved was a who’s who of the production world, including Daniel Lanois, Steve Lillywhite, Damian Taylor, Stuart Price and Brendan O’Brien.
The process of working with so many of music’s finest sound sculptors proved one that benefited The Killers in the end, giving them a keener understanding of their own sound. The resulting album is The Killers at their greatest. Battle Born incorporates elements of each of the records that came before it – Hot Fuss’ storytelling eye for detail, the yearning, mythic American rock ‘n’ roll of Sam’s Town, the anthemic choruses and pop nous of Day & Age, while still sounding like an entirely new path for the band. It’s an album written with the live audience in mind. The guitars are heavier, the drums more powerful, the vocals more commanding – all sounding quintessentially Killers while sounding bigger and better than ever before. It is an album that, like its namesake and the band that created it, does not back down from its own strengths.
Watch this space for more.
New single: Runaways – at radio now
New album – Battle Born – out 14 September 2012
