“I’m sorry for everything I’ve done,” confesses Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds on the opening song of the band’s second album, Smoke and Mirrors—something he should absolutely feel the need to apologize for. Whilst their debut, Night Visions (2012) was, albeit a bit of a mess, it was an exciting mess with huge, soaring choruses and energy to match during live performances. Smoke & Mirrors isn’t necessarily a step forward; it’s more of the same, but less. 

With “Shots,” the album begins with an upbeat, galloping drumbeat supported sound and showcases Reynolds’ surprisingly strong vocals. It’s an airy, falsetto-abound sound; however, that same airiness lacks a proper grounding and sincerity in the lyricism to support the emotional statements.

 This plagues the entire album. On “It Comes Back To Me,” Reynolds claims that it’s “all the things that worry are all the things you don’t believe,” without actually digging any deeper than proclaiming this. He then repeats “It comes back to you” numerous times as if to reiterate the point. It ends up being monotonous, uninspiring, and it would be nice if in fact the band didn’t ‘come back’ with more surface-level rubbish in the next song, “Smoke & Mirrors.” 

 Yet it doesn’t get any better; “I’m So Sorry” is a blatant rip-off of The Black Keys; “I Bet My Life” is a generic, overarching, swooping indie-anthem—a well-trodden path. “Gold,” despite its ‘Black Skinhead’-esque intro, is one of the most annoying and disjointed songs you’ll ever hear.

 Reynolds’ vocals are pretty good, and songs such as “Polaroid” excel with its stripped-back production and nursery-rhyme style. But even this fails to properly convey any sort of sincerity, and when coupled with lackluster production, Smoke and Mirrors is a lot of smoke without any fire.