Sam's Town

The Vegas showmen beef up their Anglophile rock with some heartland grit on their sophomore album. Opening with <i>Sgt. Pepper</i>–like theatrics, The Killers thunder through tales of wannabe stars and hapless nobodies with the fist-pumping triumph of Springsteen on the muscular rock anthem "When You Were Young" and the synth-laced heart-pumper "Read My Mind". Throughout, Brandon Flowers works his feverish howls over sleazy riffs ("Uncle Jonny") and a bevy of brass ("Bones"), constantly proving his own star power.