Imploding the Mirage

When I think about bands of which my interest has declined over the past few years, The Killers comes to mind.

There was a time when I listened most of their albums on repeat ("Hot Fuss" and "Battle Born" in particular) and I had a little bit of a hype for their last record "Wonderful Wonderful" when the singles were released, but I didn't take much out of it in the end.
From then on, I listened to the band less and less (nowadays I rarely listen to anything outside of "Hot Fuss").
Anyways, I was open to give this new record a chance.

The first lead single "Caution" didn't captivate me, even after listening to it more than a few times. It sounded like the same musical formula that is easily connected to The Killers, a song that goes on without bringing anything impressive or new.
"My Own Soul's Warning" impressed me more as a single, and I think it was well placed as the opening track of the album for its emotional theme and overall hopeful and inspiring atmosphere.

The instrumental in "Blowback" sounds immense, an example of the good production work put into the album.
Even though the lyrics that explore teenage angst sound a bit overdone at this time, it's a song that I enjoy and will probably come back to.

"Fire and Bone" was a bit of a let down. Brandon Flowers' performance didn't sound as inspired as in other tracks, and the rhythm style sounds out of place next to the rest of the tracklist.
"Running Towards a Place" sounded like a generic indie-rock track at first due to its intrumental. Not saying this track is bad, but it's another one that doesn't stand out to me.

I wasn't expecting to see a feature of Weyes Blood at all. "My God" is one of my favourite tracks of the album, for good part because of her. Everything that Weyes touches seem to turn into something much better and richer than what would have been without her.
The instrumental is heavier (mainly the drums), Brandon's vocals are much more enjoyable and the backing vocals give it almost a gospel feel to it, mixed with the religious-toned lyrics about unity.

I should still give it a few listens but "Imploding The Mirage" is an album with good production, instrumental work and aesthetic (the album cover as an example of that) and with great moments. It also contains too many bland ones unfortunately, but it's not terrible. It shows a band that's still trying to stay strong in the alternative music landscape, one "average" album at the time.

I remember reading an interview back in 2017 on which Brandon said that the band returned to the studio because they didn't think "Battle Born" was suitable to be the band's last album. While I do agree with that and think that this record is better than "Wonderful Wonderful", I hope that the band's resurgence will be more rewarding on their next project.

edit: Upon listening to "My God" a few more times, it now sounds like wasted potential for a Weyes Blood collaboration. Also, the production on the album sounds too much over the top.