The Killers are taking their second stab at immortalizing the American west. Their 2006 album Sam's Town introduced the band's slight preoccupation with Americana, which continued into Day & Age. Now Battle Born, named for the band's home state of Nevada, seems to be heading in that same direction, but with better results.

Their video for "Runaways" is our first real look at the album, apart from the trailer. The hints of color-coordination and showmanship are by now hallmarks of anything The Killers come up with and are thus no surprise. Same goes for the flashy mix of city-scapes, sunrises and starry nights (it's a very picturesque place wherever The Killers are running away to). The band's excessive use of red and black echoes the Battle Born art work and comes across as rather well-thought out. Instead of seeming gaudy or overly-romanticized, their representation of the west is more in-tune with the band's image and the actual 21st century mid-west. For this album they built a full-fledged theme, trading in the cowboy imagery for light boxes, leather jackets and fog machines. By the looks of it they've evolved since Sam's Town, giving us more Las Vegas, less Manifest Destiny.