Review: Imagine Dragons Meet Swedish Pop Gurus, Self-Flagellation Ensues
With their can’t beat ’em,
join ’em approach to mass market rock anthems, Las Vegas stadium rulers Imagine
Dragons build their third LP with Swedish minimalist-pop mechanics Mattman
& Robin, who gave the rock-ish personas of Tove Lo and Gwen Stefani sexy
shine. But their spacious productions are an odd fit for Dan Reynolds’ tortured
dude-isms; the single “Believer” turned his “pain!” howl
into a Roman coliseum-scale blood chant. His demand “Whip, whip, run me
like a racehorse” on the Joel Little-produced “Whatever it Takes,”
meanwhile, is more spring training than “Venus In Furs.” Redeeming
moments come via Alex Da Kid, producer of the Dragons’ mega-hit “Radioactive.”
See “Yesterday,” a sulk-fest whose boozy stomp and goofy guitar solo
actually sound like a band having fun, rather than stoic engineers of content
delivery systems.