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Feb 11, 2015Imagine Dragons will probably always sound too blustery to those allergic to stadium tricks, but Smoke’s big-tent charm makes stock rock-playbook moves feel refreshingly new.
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Feb 17, 2015Lyrics and delivery suggest Imagine Dragons adhere to old-fashioned rock band idealism, but nothing is allowed to get in the way of a sparkling hook.
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Q MagazineFeb 11, 2015Hits? Smoke + Mirrors bristles with them. [Mar 2015, p.116]
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Feb 20, 2015These guys are shameless and that's what makes them more fun than your average arena rockers.
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Feb 17, 2015Evocations of everyone from Coldplay to Peter Gabriel to Queen remain intact, with that first band’s specter looming largest over the moody, dirge-y, electro-tweaked proceedings. The album hits its most interesting and feverish spike with the furtive yelps and rhythms of “Friction.”
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Feb 17, 2015Smoke + Mirrors may seem too recycled and belabored to entice the unconverted, but the hints of hidden depths are a pleasant surprise.
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Feb 17, 2015Smoke + Mirrors puts across strong feelings, but it refuses to reveal how they work.
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Feb 17, 2015Ultimately, the strategy backfires. The Dragons’ approach may help them conjure effective public environments, but they’re devoid of personal expression.
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Feb 17, 2015To be blunt, much of Smoke + Mirrors is horrible to listen to. And yet, one can’t help but admire the band’s ambition and, on occasions, their apparent lunacy.
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Feb 17, 2015The combination of self-pity, grandiosity and leaden spirituality can get trying. And all those attempts at musical worldliness can feel like stylistic tourism.
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Feb 17, 2015Their second album is largely flat-packed stadium pop at its most anonymous.
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Feb 11, 2015The problem lies in their vision, and the fact that it’s either too narrow or too cynical to take seriously.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 274 out of 366
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Mixed: 54 out of 366
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Negative: 38 out of 366
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Feb 22, 2015
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Feb 17, 2015
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Feb 17, 2015