“Evolve” is one of the most recent works of a US rock band Imagine Dragons. Being their third studio album, it largely reflects the band’s manner and philosophy, and is built largely on their second album, “Smoke+Mirrors”. Described by the band itself as the “evolution of Imagine Dragons”, it involves pop rock beats, as well as a touch of R’n’B, Hip Hop and EDM. Despite the band being on the height of their popularity, contributing with soundtracks to such box office hits like “Passengers” and “Suicide Squad”, their new album has received very mixed reviews. Released a little more than 2 months ago, it has already earned the reputation of being the most controversial in band’s history. Both critics and users have approached the album with different expectations and levels of openness. The Metacritic average rating of “Evolve” is just 47 out of 100, while NME gave it just 3 out of 5 stars. The Guardian journalists went even further to give it 2 stars out of 5, calling it lifeless and bleak. The critics have mainly blamed the album for sacrificing inner strength of songs in favor of textures and external attractiveness, almost calling it pop. MusicOMH.com wrote that the idea of “Evolve” was good, but was never fulfilled properly, leaving the band without any newly acquired fandom. The existing fans were also a bit disappointed, with Metacritic’s user rating being 6.8 out of 10. Although the fans have expressed their consistent admiration for the spirituality of songs in the album, they do not feel the album is strong enough to match “Smoke+Mirrors”. Fans have also written that many of the songs sound the same, and they expected much more of it. Among the objective downsides of “Evolve”, we could certainly name the overall quality of songs. Generally, the songs are sort of boring and repetitive, with choruses that sound too loudly. According to some, the songs sound like they were composed to gain commercial success rather than be work of art that be genuinely enjoyed in silence. Even the famous choruses, to which fans sing along at every Imagine Dragons concert, in “Evolve”, seem to lose their fun and become too much like each other. Meanwhile, Imagine Dragons remain silent on the criticism their last album has faced. After all, issuing new studio albums is like playing online slot machine games for money. They tried to show another side of their music and make it more appealing to wider audiences, but maybe got too caught up in the process of trying to please everybody. In any case, all the critics and fans are hoping that the next studio album of Imagine Dragons will be able to boast of much more depth and substance. Meanwhile, their concerts are still fun to be at and still gather millions of fans all over the world who enjoy singing along to the band’s blasting choruses.