Tours Through Discographies: Imagine Dragons

   Imagine Dragons is one of the bands I've been a fan of the longest. I remember listening to their first album, Night Visions, in middle school. I've seen the release of every album by them except for that debut album, because that was the only one out when I got into them. 

   They're also one of the biggest bands I'm seriously into. So many songs have become frequent radio hits. Everyone's heard songs like "Believer", "Thunder", "Enemy", and "Radioactive". So, let's talk about them!

1. Night Visions (2012)

   This album holds a very special place in my heart. Pretty much all of these tracks meant a lot to me throughout high school and still do to this day. The sound and songwriting here is amazing. This album is held to be their best by many and is sort of regarded as a sort of benchmark that all their subsequent releases have had to be compared to. Maybe it's partly my nostalgia, but this album is virtually flawless. I've even heard this one YouTuber who said some pretty nasty stuff about Imagine Dragons admit that this is a great album. 

Favorite tracks: "Bleeding Out", "Demons", "Cha-Ching (Till We Grow Older)"

2. Smoke + Mirrors (2014)

    Another timeless album. This is the other one I think is considerably their best. They took everything that worked from Night Visions and adapted it. They dialed up everything that worked well and tried some new stuff, and the new stuff worked out well. This album was a mainstay in my top ten albums for a long time. While I put this one just an armpit hair behind Night Visions, it's still undeniably top-tier. Each song feels like a story, and what's also amazing is that they had an art piece done for each song!

Favorite tracks: "Shots", "Hopeless Opus", "The Fall"

3. Evolve (2017)

    Okay. I feel kinda like Ben from Parks and Recreation when he's confessing that he actually likes Jerry and thinks he's a good man. Because this album gets a lot of hate, but enjoy it. I do understand the hate - it does feel pretty commercial and feels tailored to be a hit machine. This is the album that spawned both "Believer" and "Thunder". And I'll admit I'm kinda tired of the former but I still love the latter. While I do put it in the back half of their albums in my ranking, it's still a pretty good record that deserves your listening.

Favorite tracks: "Yesterday", "Rise Up", "Walking the Wire"

4. Origins (2018)

    This one also feels kinda commercial, but in like, a cool way - if that makes sense? Like, it's radio-friendly pop-rock, but it doesn't feel tailored to be hits like Evolve did; it feels tailored to be Imagine Dragons. I feel like this album is composed of what Evolve did right. No real complaints for me on this one, except that I think "West Coast" is kinda overrated. Pretty solid album.

Favorite tracks: "Bad Liar", "Machine", "Digital"

5. Mercury (2022)

    This album was released in two parts, Mercury - Act 1, and Mercury - Act 2. For efficiency's sake and because it's grouped as one big album on Spotify, I'm going to list it as one big album. One big album with a whooping thirty-two tracks. That's obviously a lot, so obviously they can't all be winners. Cram that much music into an album and not all of it is gonna be great. But, I have to applaud them for going so all-out. And it's amazing that even the weaker songs are still really good. This is also probably the most personal they've ever gotten. There are some really deep, raw lyrics here.

Favorite tracks: "Wrecked", "Sharks", "I'm Happy"

6. Loom (2024)

    As I said in my official review of this one, I'm not a big fan of this album. It's kinda disappointing. It feels rushed, and doesn't feel unique at all. It doesn't offer anything special that you won't get from any top 40 artist, and a lot of the songs don't really sound to have their own identity. Now, listen - I know I just talked a lot of smack about this album. But, shockingly, I don't actually hate it. I just think it's their worst album. But I mean, it's like eating a candy bar you didn't really like. You still ate candy. I'd still rather listen to this than a lot of stuff, and it certainly has its moments. Miss you, Platzman.

Favorite tracks: "Kid", "Fire in These Hills", "Nice to Meet You"