Oh, come on, can’t we just get beyond Thunderdome?
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[3.08]
Al Shipley: I’m the guy who found the deeply corny and on-the-nose “It’s Time” irresistible. So let me get my instinct to be an Imagine Dragons apologist out of the way before I say that this ungainly disaster actually makes Alex Da Kid’s previous hits seem dignified by comparison.
[1]
Rebecca A. Gowns: My little twelve-year-old cousin loves Imagine Dragons. That’s about the average age of their fanbase, I’m guessing. I’ve only ever heard the godawful “It’s Time” on the radio, which is all saccharine banjo-picking OVERPRODUCED AND COMPRESSED REALLY SHITTY faux-indie-rock. This song is worse. It’s not even catchy… it’s like, Linkin Park vibes without a rapping part or a hook in the chorus? Bad pop rock is a million times worse than bad any-other-genre. NEVERTHELESS, Imagine Dragons is just a band for middle school kids, and I don’t want to break my little cousin’s heart. +2 points.
[2]
Patrick St. Michel: People can shit on Mumford and Sons’ Country Bear Jamboree act all they want, but I’d much rather listen to anything those dudes have done than Imagine Dragon’s toes-in-the-water attempt at brostep-tinged festival rock.
[2]
Alfred Soto: Do they want credit for the programmed beats?
[1]
Anthony Easton: The guitars are crunchy but obvious. The vocals attempt more power than they actually deliver. The lyrics emphasize a few stock words or phrases that appear to be shocking, but are more than a little obvious. They are from Vegas, but haven’t quite learnt either grit or glitz. I am mostly bored.
[3]
Iain Mew: Disparate thoughts: I) I gave “It’s Time” a 6 and, having never encountered it since, have no memory of it whatsoever. I’m not going to be able to forget this one. II) Worst line: “Raise my flag, don my clothes, it’s a revolution I suppose,” which might as well say “I really can’t be bothered and I have no idea what I am singing about anyway.” III) Remember when Brad followed up our review of Coldplay’s “Paradise” with a comment about their forthcoming dubstep EP? Wish granted! IV) Oh god, this is what Alt-J sound like to their detractors, isn’t it?
[3]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: I feel pretty daft to be hoodwinked by a song these days but Imagine Dragons pulled it off with “Radioactive,” swinging out of Alt-J territory on a single synth swipe and headfirst into an oversized pop playground.By the time of the first chorus’s “woah” back-up vocals or the introduction of a dizi flute in the second verse, this was running with the rules of the Fall Out Boy book: when playing pop-rock, don’t dare skimp on the pop. Perhaps there’s not much to “Radioactive” besides pure volume but in that case it can only be compared to a rollercoaster — shut up, raise your arms and just go with the rush.
[8]
Scott Mildenhall: If this really is a “welcome to the new age” then it’s pretty much only good news for Alex Clare. Certainly, vocalist Dan Reynolds is angry about it, to the point that he really sells the belief that this song is worthy of such a grand, portentous slogan, and that’s admirable. If he genuinely and wholeheartedly means whatever it is he’s saying, then he wins, quite frankly, as does everyone buying into it and finding anything there.
[4]
Brad Shoup: There are a lot of garbage evocators here, from the title to the chemicals to the apocalypse. To these, the brostep bass is a sonic cousin, the idea of bluntness. But if you buy in, as I seem to have done… it’s fun. Dan Reynolds’ howl in the chorus — a movie-trailer portent — trumps the hallowed lowing of the intro and bridge, and his blunt backbeat meshes with Alex Da Kid’s blunter squelchbeat. No bonus point, but I also dig the intake of breath.
[7]
Jer Fairall: Cloddish post-grunge gets a lumbering dubstep makeover. “This is it, the apocalypse,” indeed.
[1]
Katherine St Asaph: Let’s reflect on all the decisions that were made here, shall we? Someone decided to puree everyone’s vocals to the consistency of watered milk and gently brush their album art with lavender — fair enough. Someone decided to yarl out a harmony — whatever. Someone decided on the flat-footed dubstep.Someone decided to write the lyrics “welcome to the new age” and “I’m waking up” for an audience larger than a Rainbow Gathering forum. Someone decided, right at the start, to illustrate the lyric “breathing in the chemicals” with a lusty GYUHHHHHHHHHH, like the Hulk trying a Wilhelm scream. Millions of people decided to take even this seriously.
[2]
Ian Mathers: Lou Diamond Phillips, I’m a little disappointed in you right now.
[3]