Advertisement

Imagine Dragons - Evolve review: Breathing fire with a new pop sparkle

New album: Imagine Dragons' Evolve
New album: Imagine Dragons' Evolve

Nominally one of the biggest “rock” bands of recent years, Las Vegas quartet Imagine Dragons have always brought electronic and pop touches to their modern sound.

Guitars are even further from the forefront on their third album, and the band generally sound least appealing on this collection’s most aggressive tracks, such as the shouty Believer.

They’re closer to boy- band territory with the R&B stylings of I Don’t Know Why and the smooth Start Over, which sounds like it should have its own dance routine.

Meanwhile, the poppiest moment, Thunder, is just fantastic, a mix of chipmunk vocal samples and crashing drums that’s a career highlight for the band. Not everything works here, but however you define it they’ve done enough to stay as big as they are.