Although they are Las Vegas, Nevada natives, the Killers have more in common with the retro-New Wave sounds of New York City than with the casino crooners most often associated with Sin City. On HOT FUSS, the shaggy-haired quartet matches 1960s garage attitude and Strokes-like vocal swagger with a danceable, bass guitar-driven sound that pays lavish tribute to '80s pop heroes Duran Duran and Simple Minds. With "On Top," the combo adds the soaring, delay-laden guitars of U2 and the Fixx, while "Somebody Told Me" features a bouncy disco beat that recalls the Pet Shop Boys. Not content to be pegged as a retro-revival act, however, the Killers imbue each song on this fierce debut with a healthy dose of new-millennium rock snarl.

What the critics say...

Rolling Stone (p.124) - 3 1/2 stars out of 5 - "[T]his Las Vegas band has actual pop songs in spades....This album is all Killers, no filler."
Rolling Stone (p.146) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[O]ne of the year's surprise left-field hits..."
Spin (p.66) - Ranked #16 in Spin's "40 Best Albums of the Year" - "HOT FUSS is like doing a semester abroad without ever having to leave your suburb."
Q (p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[With] moments of exhilarating brilliance..."
Uncut (p.78) - Ranked #59 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "The Killers sort the wheat from the chaff of '80s motifs..."
CMJ (p.4) - "[A] raucous mix of electro synth-mangling and Strokes-like effortless cool that could prove just as effective on this side of the pond."