Arriving on the heels of an uneven decade -- when a pair of high-charting releases failed to match the sales of their early albums and their founding lineup was effectively reduced to a duo -- Nevadas most successful musical export roared back with their triumphant sixth set, Imploding the Mirage. Balancing their core synths-and-Springsteen sound with stadium-sized pop bombast, the Killers strike gold, dispensing with the clumsy missteps heard on the bloated Battle Born and weary Wonderful Wonderful and delivering their most focused offering since their 2000s heyday. Finding a sweet spot between the Wild West grandeur of Sams Town and frontman Brandon Flowers excellent 80s-indebted solo efforts, Mirage isnt so much a revelation as a masterful distillation of what theyve been doing to varied degrees of success since 2004. The typical Killers trademarks are all here -- big anthems and even bigger emotions -- buffered by Flowers evocative storytelling that honors dust-swept landscapes and everyday folks just trying to make it. With founding guitarist Dave Keuning absent and bassist Mark Stoermer in a reduced role, Flowers and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. recruited an impressive cast of guests who elevate the album without distracting from the essential Killers spirit. Alongside executive producers Shawn Everett and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Rado (Foxygen), Day & Ages disco prince Stuart Price injects the funk on the Talking Heads-esque groover Fire in Bone and frequent Flowers collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid channels Fleetwood Mac on the expansive Running Towards a Place. Speaking of the Mac, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham joins the fray for a soaring solo to close out the galloping anthem Caution, one of the Killers best singles to date. Elsewhere, k.d. lang duets with Flowers on the lovelorn Lightning Fields, which sounds like Peter Gabriel covering Kate Bush, while Weyes Bloods Natalie Mering provides delicate backing vocals across the album. Brooklyn band Lucius, the War on Drugs Adam Granduciel, and songwriter Blake Mills also add their subtle touches to further flesh out their respective tracks. Following years of ups and downs -- both as a unit and, for Flowers, as a supportive husband -- Imploding the Mirage feels like more than just one of their best albums, but a triumphant and invigorated rut-reversal that shines with a hard-won confidence. ~ Neil Z. Yeung

Rovi