Imagine Dragons - Mercury - Act 1 ALBUM REVIEW

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Did Lin Manuel-Miranda fall off the Hamilton star or something?


Well, Imagine Dragons is quite easily one of the most well known bands in the modern age. That’s wild to think about, if I’m being totally honest. They haven’t done that much at all, and this new album here is their fifth album in nine years. They typically take their time with their albums, and whatever the quality of the album is, I can really appreciate that. Now, reading this title is odd: Mercury - Act 1. Is this the first part of a double album? Is it a chapter in a story? They haven’t specified what this exactly means, but it’s a little clunky to read. Great start, right? So, let’s just get into it.

I forgot to mention one big part of this album. Rick Rubin is in the executive producer chair on this, and for his more infamous projects that he’s been a part of, he’s also been a part of some great ones too. So, I’m just gonna say it now: I did not like this. Actually, I think this is probably one of the group’s worst albums. I think that they tried to experiment quite a bit on it, which I usually appreciate on mainstream pop-rock albums like this, but nearly every attempt at this experimentation falls flat on its face. Dan Reynolds’ vocals are atrocious here. He’s never been the best singer, but he can certainly do better than this, right? The writing here is also on that same level. This is really bad, and again, I’m not even sure if it was ever this bad. It couldn’t have been, right? I will give this some light praise for the production, mainly because from that aspect, it was quite pleasant sounding and easy on the ears.

Overall, Mercury - Act 1 is an abomination of an album. While Imagine Dragons may not be at the level of Nickelback of how much they’re being ridiculed, they will be if they continue on this path. Nearly everything about this just screams ‘bland’ and what isn’t bland is downright unlistenable. Retire or replace Nickelback as the laughing stock of pop-rock. Choose wisely.


2/10


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Mercury - Act 1 is an Interscope release.

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