Review: Imagine Dragons – Smoke + Mirrors

Three years on, and to say Imagine Dragons have moved on from Night Visions would be a colossal understatement.

When Imagine Dragons announced their UK arena tour all those months ago before Smoke + Mirrors was released, I’ll admit I was a little dubious. I saw them on their last UK tour performing at the O2 Academy in Birmingham – somewhere with a capacity of only 3,000. I’m pretty sure they sold out that night, but there’s a difference between the Academy and an arena 10 times its size. After all, the electronic vibes on Night Visions were fun, but were they big enough for arenas? I didn’t think so.

Then I listened to Smoke + Mirrors. How horrifically wrong I was. Where the ‘heaviest’ song on their previous album was ‘Radioactive’, Imagine Dragons have stripped back some of the tinkling electronic sounds that made Night Visions more of a fun album and instead focused on the raw sounds they can make with their instruments and front man Dan Reynolds’ amazingly versatile voice. The guitars are heavier, and even though there are still some synth-y vibes, Smoke + Mirrors takes the band to whole new place compared to its predecessor. I suppose this is what some people might call a ‘darker’ album than the last, but it’s still balanced out by the more upbeat jams such as ‘Shots’ and ‘Polaroid’. Either way, every song is near perfection. Favourite track: It’s a tie between I’m So Sorry and Friction.