Imagine Dragons - Night Visions

Fresh from Las Vegas, NV (also home of The Killers), Imagine Dragons have released their much buzzed about debut album titled Night Visions. The album has been gaining much traction recently thanks to this past summer's big hit "It's Time", and the group's refreshing approach to craft sonically delicate musical structures coupled upon with well written lyrics that make this band one of the best new artists to come out this year.

The album starts off with the pleasant sounding "Radioactive", a downtempo effort that blends in some sleek electronic influences plus the warm and inviting lead vocals of frontman Dan Reynolds ensuring that the album gets off to a great start right out of the gate. My favorite track off the disc is the aforementioned first single "It's Time", a melodic and thunderous track that features an instantly catchy hook with the perfect blend of consistent guitar licks and a slight electronic touch that make this track one of the best of the year and is one of the highlights of the album so far. "Demons" features Dan's delicate and prominent vocal presence allowing all of the instrumentation to naturally take shape and run its course all the way throughout the album with aplomb. "On Top of the World" features a chipper and upbeat handclap inspired beat that makes you feel much like the song's title and allows you to enjoy different facets of the band that we haven't had the opportunity to check out up until this point.

The disc's second half begins with "Hear Me", a solid and consistent rocker that features straight up guitar riffs and the electronic influences pushed into the background to give the song its own distinct personality. "Bleeding Out" tones it down substantially from the prior tracks and tends to play it safe on a slacked and uninspired track heard here. "Underdog" features some creative and uptempo synth influences that will have you grooving along to the keyboard on one of the more pure electro influenced tracks featured here on the disc. The album begins to draw to a conclusion on "Nothing Left To Say/Rocks", with some solid keyboard synth arrangements and a strict focus on a electronic state of mind represents the album's true focus and dynamic set forth. "Cha-Ching (Till We Grow Older)" closes it all out and does a great job of bringing in all the elements we've heard so far and presents it to us in an encapsulated format that ensures that we understand what the album's mission was and if they accomplished it to a certain extent. I was impressed with Imagine Dragons when I first heard them on the radio with "It's Time", which was an appropriate and fitting track that also serves as a requiem for the state of the music industry right now with the demise of local Boston station WFNX and its transition into the digital age, leaving us wondering and asking the question, "Where do we go from here?"

In retrospect, a standard and focused effort from Imagine Dragons, who have made a strong first impression with their debut effort and shows what the band is made of and what they can improve upon with their next release and all those that come after it.

                                                                                                                     Album Score: 3.5/5

Track Listing:

1. Radioactive
2. Tiptoe
3. It's Time
4. Demons
5. On Top of The World
6. Amsterdam
7. Hear Me
8. Every Night
9. Bleeding Out
10. Underdog
11. Nothing Left To Say/Rocks
12. Cha-Ching (Till We Grow Older)