Of all rock's recent hit makers, the Killers were pretty far down the list of bands likely to start taking themselves way too seriously. Making it big through keyboard-heavy songs tinged with voyeurism ("Mr. Brightside") and ambiguous sexuality ("Somebody Told Me,") the Killers may have just been a trashy pop band, but they were a very good one.

So why is it that new release Sam's Town finds the band trading in their mascara for copies of Born to Run? It's like an alternate world where the band made it big on the goofy, pseudo-epic "All These Things That I've Done" instead of dancing with the songs that brought them.

The problem is that the Killers are just no good at this sort of thing. It's a statement album by a band with nothing to say. Lead singer Brandon Flowers has said in interviews he wants to associate the band with their Las Vegas hometown, making the laughably arrogant comparison with the Beatles and Abbey Road. (The difference being, of course, that the Beatles were one of pop's greatest bands, while the Killers named their new album after a casino.)

Now, an album inspired by Sin City has great potential. What better symbol for modern American decadence could there be? But the band stumbles on the transition from celebrating it, as it did on its debut, to attempting commentary. Style over substance is usually considered a flaw, but a band from Vegas should stick to their roots.

Their reliance on the surface aspect of music is evident in the busy arrangements. Horns, strings and pianos flourish many tracks. Guitars pile on top of one another, but the Killers can't think of any tricks besides "palm-mute, then big riff!" to represent importance.

The band's permanent roster also seems to have expanded to at least 20 members, as backing vocals and choirs pop up on what seems like every song, to the point of being ridiculous. I'm pretty sure a high voice harmonizes on the word "Bling!" in the awfully titled "Bling (Confession of a King.)"

For sheer silliness, though, nothing tops "Bones," the planned second single. If you thought "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier" was bad, wait until you hear a falsetto voice sing "I never had a lover/I never had soul" while Flowers repeats the lines in a dry and spoken voice.

Similarly, "Uncle Jonny," what was probably supposed to be a touching song for someone's cocaine-addicted relative, squanders a great stinging guitar riff with an earnestly shouted get-well message: "Hey, Jonny, I got faith in you man/I mean it, it's gonna be all alright!" Oh, and more backing vocals, too.

But the biggest crime of all is poor songwriting. The Killers want to sound more like U2, but they just pile instruments on instead of coming up with topics worthy of the epic treatment.

Where Hot Fuss had variety, every song on Sam's Town falls prey to the over-zealous band. Not a single song remains soft; all of them exploding into washes of distortion at least once. There are plenty of good ideas and lots of good guitar work floating around, but when every single song wants to be an epic, they mush together.

The Killers are still too good a pop band to totally flop on the album, but nothing ever gels into a fully formed song. There are no real standouts, just fleeting moments of past success. They did a lot better job playing Duran Duran than Springsteen, that's for sure. Grade: C-