Smoke + Mirrors is the 2nd studio album by pop-rock band Imagine Dragons, released in 2015. This album was a more "rock-oriented" approach as stated by the band themselves. Though not as 'iconic' as their debut Night Visions, this album does have its plus points.
The musical intensity is present right form the start, though not very complex, but its good enough to make people groove.
The album opens with "Shots", which is more of a melodic pop-rock song, giving the listener a lighter and 'happy' feel.
The next song is "Gold', a more electronic rock oriented song, with heavy bass and cool whistling! The time signature is in 6/8, which pretty hard to follow if you listen to only pop or other oriented genres.
The third song is "Smoke And Mirrors", another pop-rock approach by the band, with respectable lyrics.
The fourth (and one of my favorites) song "I'm So Sorry", opens up with a low sounding distorted guitar riff and bass, and it suddenly explodes through your headphones; driven with a garage-rock/blues rock sound, it immediately captures your attention.
The fifth song, and also the lead single off the album "I Bet My Life";s theme lies around the relationship between lead singer Dan Reynolds and his parents, stating that the bond of a strong family is still present.
"Polaroid" is another pop-rock song off the album, personally, I felt the song was not really 'great', but was good enough to continue the flow of this album.
The next song "Friction" is a banger. Starting off slowly and building up until the chorus, this song is definitely a worth listening to. It can't be categorized as 'heavy metal', but hard rock is the most appropriate genre I can think of labeling it as.
Another stand-out and really underrated song is "Thief" (in the bonus edition of Smoke + Mirrors). A slightly heavy but melodic song with appreciable lyrics.
The next song from the bonus tracks "Battle Cry" was used in the soundtrack of Transformers 4 (if I am correct). Opening with a lot of "oohs" the song must be appreciated for incorporating solid drums and complementing guitars and bass. Though the lyrics are short, but the musical impact will surely stay with one for long.
The songs "Warriors" and "Monster" carry forward the band's 'rock' approach to a decent extent, without overly being too generic.
There are other tracks from the album that I haven't mentioned here, as they are all of the pop-rock /alternative rock genres. The songs mentioned above are standouts from the album(imo) and my personal favorites.
Hope you enjoyed reading and sorry for the review being too long =D