Imagine Dragons
Evolve

For a band, the third album is usually intended to be the one that defines their maturity, the do-or-die moment, although often it isn’t quite so. The Imagine Dragons, for example, have decidedly taken a step back or rather have taken a step forward towards somewhat bland and flawed pop geared for the charts, although their offering isn’t as empty as that of many others. The album would have been better off titled "Regress." I'm not trying to be harsh—there are ideas present, it keeps quite good company, and that's why I gave it several listens—but an objective analysis of the flaws that characterize this third work of the band.

Even in the past, I highlighted the flaws that characterized their productions; in their first work, several tracks were damaged by a slightly flat and meretricious production, while with their second, "Smoke + Mirrors," they seemed to have found the right path, and the sense of flatness was much less evident.

With "Evolve," instead, we are faced with a less varied sound, markedly more inclined towards a very electronic and chart-oriented pop, sophisticated yes, but unfortunately characterized by a really too flat production. Who knows how many nice little things are inside each single track... but they are barely audible or not heard at all because what matters in the music business is to blast the speakers with just the voice and percussion, the latter mostly being electronic and trendy.

As I mentioned in the review of "Smoke + Mirrors," they are a band that could build something more or less strong and dignified but instead seems to think more about sales than the quality of the music... and if with the previous album they were on the right track, here they have certainly proved me right. I would invite you to imagine how tracks like "I Don't Know Why," "Whatever It Takes," "Believer," and "Walking the Wire" would sound with a production that better highlights the sounds and instrumental work.

And yet, there are tracks commercial to the core like "Thunder" and "Start Over" that, even though they are plastic and trendy, have a certainly more refined sound. However, when they put a little less effort into being trendy at all costs, the band also produces tracks of a certain refinement, like "I'll Make It Up to You," with those vaguely '80s or early '90s keyboards in the chorus, with a very AOR flavor (for structure and rhythm, see the guitar touches and the same pompous keyboards in the chorus, it reminded me of "Way of the World" by Genesis, listen to believe), but also "Yesterday," with its elegant and solemn stride.

But then there is "Dancing in the Dark," the track where the guys stop being a pop band and actually become artists, gifting us with a dark and nocturnal electronic piece; the classic example of a commercial band that creates a track of a certain seriousness but that makes the musically ignorant masses frown because it is too "strange," because it isn’t catchy enough, because you can't dance to it, or who knows what else; a bit like the discussion around "Midnight" by Coldplay.

Ultimately, the question remains essentially one: what drives one to suffocate many interesting ideas under tons of pumped percussion and voices? And the answer is quite clear: it seems (though one could be wrong) that the band thinks more about success than quality, and the result may not be mediocre but certainly penalizing. The album definitely reaches a passing grade, but if better cared for in details, it could easily earn a 7. Also because, to be honest, if I have listened to it even more than the latest work from Ayreon, it means there’s indeed something that glued me to it (and I'm someone who stays well away from nullities); the fact is that Imagine Dragons are a pop band that never manages to become tedious, for me they are one of the few groups whose catchy hits can pester us as much as they want...