Rebel Diamonds by The Killers

For two decades, The Killers have been one of America\'s standard-bearers for rock that takes big swings. Their fusion of synth-pop grandiosity, heartland-rock grit, and pop savvy—as well as a bit of showmanship that could only be harnessed by a band originally from Las Vegas—has resulted in landscape-changing anthems like the angst-filled millennial rallying cry \"Mr. Brightside\" and gently insistent earworms like their pensive 2022 track \"boy.\" On *Rebel Diamonds*, the band pores over their catalog with care, providing a 20-song Killers primer that shows how far they\'ve come since they were causing buzz on both sides of the Atlantic 20 years ago. \"It allowed us to shine a light on some songs that have taken on a whole other journey than they were meant to early on,\" vocalist Brandon Flowers told Apple Music\'s Zane Lowe—an early champion of the band—about the thought processes behind putting together the band\'s second greatest-hits collection. *Rebel Diamonds* takes a completist view of The Killers\' career, including tracks from all seven of its albums and showing off the breadth of its New Heartland Wave ideals. Smashes like the storming \"All These Things That I\'ve Done,\" the soaring \"When You Were Young,\" and the twitchy \"Somebody Told Me\" are all present. Tracks from later albums like 2012\'s thunder-road-traveling *Battle Born* and 2021\'s Americana-tinged *Pressure Machine* show how the band used those early successes to evolve their sound—a shape-shifting evidenced by the charging new track \"Spirit,\" which amps up the band\'s jagged post-punk tendencies over a four-on-the-floor beat. For Flowers, *Rebel Diamonds* represents the story of The Killers in a way that\'s crucial to how the band has sustained itself since the early 2000s—and where it might go next. \"The one thread that runs through all of this is just the authentic pursuit of finding ourselves,\" said Flowers. \"And that\'s something that isn\'t going to disappear.\"

9 / 10

Right from the start, The Killers made anthems – songs built for huge, open vistas, tracks tailormade for vast spaces. A perfectly formed stadium outfit,

9 / 10

Right from the start, The Killers made anthems – songs built for huge, open vistas, tracks tailormade for vast spaces. A perfectly formed stadium outfit,

8 / 10

THE KILLERS have been a strong force in rock and alternative music since the early 2000s. When their breakout single "Mr. Brightside" arrived, from the band's 2004 "Hot Fuss" debut, there was nothing really like it on modern rock radio. "Mr. Brightside" was heavily influenced by pop, new wave and po...

8 / 10

THE KILLERS have been a strong force in rock and alternative music since the early 2000s. When their breakout single "Mr. Brightside" arrived, from the band's 2004 "Hot Fuss" debut, there was nothing really like it on modern rock radio. "Mr. Brightside" was heavily influenced by pop, new wave and po...

Hearing the Vegas rockers’ biggest songs pulled together illustrates their tendency to recycle motifs and melodies