Mercury Act 1 - Imagine Dragons Album Review from Susan Harris

Welcome to our Thursday Music Feature! ​
​This week Susan is talking about
Mercury Act 1 by Imagine Dragons
​
Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments!

Susan - 

Imagine Dragons is an American pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, consisting of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman. Mercury Act 1 is the bands 5th studio release following on from albums, Night Visions (2012), Smoke + Mirrors (2015), Evolve (2017), and Origins (2018) and have established themselves as one of the best pop rock bands to come out of America. 

I've been a fan of Imagine Dragons ever since I first heard that first big drum hit on the opening of Radioactive.  Night Visions is one of my fave debut albums. But they have always been a little hit and miss for me, with some of their songs becoming too commercial or pop centrectic to fully enjoy an album. Imagine Dragons are similar to Maroon 5, who came out the block with an edgier album ( Songs about Jane) and then went a little too far in the pop direction for my tastes...but I know some people love the new directions. 

Lead singer Dan Reynolds has described Mercury Act 1 as two different sides: one organic and looking inward, the other more aggressive and looking outward. The album touches on themes of loss, loneliness, and grief, while celebrating life and has a lot of lyrics that are relatable and self reflective. 

Dan also said:

The point of art is to share our darkest moments as well as the light ones.
​I believe that by singing about my own struggle with it, it hopefully will bring someone else some sort of peace or resolve. This record deals with a lot of searching and loneliness, struggling with the finite state of reality.

Mercury Act 1 tries too hard to be an album that will appeal to everyone and not even Dan's voice can save it. I was disappointed because I had high hopes after hearing songs like Wrecked and Cutthroat that they might have gone back to Night Visions roots especially since most of the pandemic released albums have been reflected of the period.  At times, it's like the lyrics and the melody are out of sync with one another and on the single, Dull Knives, it actually sounded like Dan was in pain in his throat rather than anything else. I read somewhere that this was their attempt at a MCR Welcome to the black parade, but hell no, this can't even compare to that masterpiece.

Track Listing:
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1. My Life
2. Lonely
3. Wrecked
4. Monday     
5. #1  
6. Easy Come Easy Go
7. Giants         
8. It's Ok         
9. Dull Knives 
10. Follow You
11. Cutthroat
12. No Time for Toxic People     
13. One Day      

Standout tracks: 
My Life, Lonely, Wrecked, Follow You &​Cutthroat.
( The pickings were slim to be fair.)​

Melanie Here - The Code Word For This Article Is Dragons

​Susan Harris is a writer from Cork, Ireland and when she’s not torturing her readers with heart-wrenching plot twists or killer cliffhangers, she’s probably getting some new book related ink, binging her latest TV or music obsession, or with her nose in a book. She is a proud founding Member of the Muser VIPers and is responsible for Melanie not breaking the Website on an almost daily basis!
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You can check out all her books on Amazon HERE
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