The Killers' "Sam's Town" got a rotten welcome when it arrived back in the fall of 2006, largely because critics weren't pleased with the band's shift away from the fuzzy new wave of 2004's Hot Fuss to more grandiose, Springsteenian territory. In other words, it's an album where expectations got in the way for a lot of listeners, and that's a shame because it's the sound of a young band having the guts to make the biggest and most ambitious record they could muster. Everything that is great about the record coalesces on its de facto closer, a rip-roaring epic called "Why Do I Keep Counting?" that splits the difference between cinematic Hollywood western, "Born to Run" style escapism, and U2-sized bombast. A string arrangement sweeps the song toward the skies, and co-producers Flood and Alan Moulder hold the whole export together, but it's ultimately frontman Brandon Flowers' commanding vocal performance that earns the song its "maximum volume" distinction.