Am I a naГЇve, optimistic fool for doing so? Sure, why not. I wanted Imagine Dragons to release something that actually drops the pretentious golden eagle of soulless trite that the four-piece has seen fit to wave in our faces for the last decade, and just make something good. I want to believe that no matter how poor an artistвЂ™s output becomes, there is always the chance of recuperation вЂ“ take EminemвЂ™s whiplash recovery from Revival to Kamikaze, or NickelbackвЂ™s Feed the Machine, for example. Now, to put my cards on the table as open and honestly as possibleвЂ¦ I genuinely wanted to like this album. Sure, with the goal of pandering to as many commercial audiences as logistically possible, youвЂ™ll get the odd R&B flavoured track, the occasional guitar riff and solo, or some peppered instances of EDMвЂ¦ but itвЂ™s all been violently shoved into the Imagine Dragons Magic Music Machine, and the mincemeat that eventually comes out the other end all looks the fucking same. Because in spite of my snide reference to several genresвЂ™ that could technically be associated with the band, this wasnвЂ™t at all to imply that Imagine Dragons actually intends on genuinely committing to any of them. But you know what? If you did in fact decide to Frankenstein yourself together a listenable Imagine Dragons album from nine yearsвЂ™ worth of (what you would hope to be) accumulated stylistic growth, experimentation, and increased emphasis on trying new ideas for the sake of keeping things fresh and interesting, you wouldnвЂ™t have a clue where any of it came from. And maybe вЂ“ just, maybe вЂ“ across all sixty tracks produced from Night Visions to Mercury вЂ“ Act 1 there is a salvageable ten track experience in there that could be crudely pieced together. Over the last nine years, Las Vegas, Nevada-hailing pop rock (вЂ¦ and arena pop, and alt rock, and electronic rock, and arena rock вЂ¦) act Imagine Dragons have released a grand total of five albums.

Why are we still stomping around in this vapid, flaccid, cookie cutter bullshit? Why, Imagine Dragons? Why are we still doing this? Why are you still pursuing the same exhausted, overblown, overworked, overproduced, over commercialised nonsense? In fact, fuck it вЂ“ IвЂ™m done being nice. Review Summary: There are only so many times we can do this, boys.ДЄt this point, it isnвЂ™t even a question that warrants an answer anymoreвЂ¦ but IвЂ™m asking it anyway.

Imagine dragons album 2021