To say that the Imagine Dragons have a good track record with emphatic albums is an understatement. Even from their first album, Night Visions, came the smash hits "Demons", "Radioactive", and "It's Time", all three of which can easily be argued was their claim to fame. Smoke 'n Mirrors, their second album, housed the popular "I Would Bet My Life" and "I'm So Sorry". Evolve marks their third album, and over the trilogy, the band has developed a signature style that seems to be prevalent especially in their singles. Every song on each album can either be considered either soft or extremely edgy, but never falls in a happy medium. Evolve doesn't fail to disappoint in this regard. However, its general ability to amaze as a whole is somewhat less spectacular than an appreciation of its style.

A record of four singles were released ahead of the album's release, almost a third of the total tracklist. "Believer" and "Thunder" were immediate hits among mainstream radio stations, while "Walking the Wire" and "Whatever It Takes" took more of a backseat, having been released just before the entire album itself. There is a significant stylistic difference in both songs' releases - "Believer" and "Thunder" represent the band more characteristically, which is most likely why they were released earlier, to give off a familiar vibe about the album and generate its fans' excitement. "Walking the Wire" and "Whatever It Takes", while still clearly possessing the voice an Imagine Dragons song would have, are songs that one wouldn't automatically associate with the band, but more with one such as One Republic.

Regardless of the image they project, these four songs are easily the most memorable ones of the album. "Whatever It Takes" draws the listener in immediately with its rapid-fire lyrics beginning in the first verse, which continues all the way to the chorus and through the rest of the song. It also features heavily with its half-step lines, each note only going up a half-step higher or lower when emphasizing syllables or words. The listener can easily close their eyes and identify the pulse of the song, whether it is in the song's percussion or specific syllables in the song.

"Believer" is one of the songs that tends to run on the "edgier" side of the band's genre, with a pulse that snaps in the ear and falsetto notes that are almost screamed. One of the most memorable characteristics of this song is the quick, rushing drop of sound that occurs right before the chorus and during it as well. Paired with the screaming notes, this song is most definitely more characteristic of what the band is known for.

"Walking the Wire" shows a side of the band that hasn't been as widely represented, not since the release of "It's Time" during their first album. The sound is much less grittier, with fewer instruments and more acoustic forms of percussion, such as handclaps and bass drums. Its message is also much more positive than most of the album's other tracks, with lyrics such as "It's a price to pay when it comes to love, but we'll take what comes". Musical listeners may notice that instead of the usual minor keys, this song is actually in the cliched uplifting key of E Major, a key famous for being full of hope and positivity.

"Thunder" is once more a return to the album's edginess, the bass constantly thudding in the listener's ear as the song progresses. (The amount of thudding bass and the popularity of each single seems to have some correlation.) Its style is similar to that of "Believer" in that there is a sudden lift in sound to mark the beginning of the chorus as well as its chorus' bass. What's interesting is that, instead of rougher lyrics, if one listens carefully enough, the song's message is somewhat motivational: to never give up in pursuing your dreams, even if at every turn someone tries to push you down.

Unfortunately, not all the album's songs are as memorable as its singles. The album seems to be an exercise in getting back to more traditional instrumentals, something that's shown in "Start Over", "I'll Make It Up to You" and "Yesterday". It also seems to be inserting as many half-screamed vocals as possible, and can be seen in the songs "Rise Up" and "I Don't Know Why". There are even songs that go overboard on technological instrumentals: "Dancing In the Dark" nearly overloads on the usage to the point where the lyrics are almost unidentifiable due to the slurs. The only song that may even measure up to the levels of the pre-released singles is "Mouth of the River", which manages to balance its genre levels between edgy and uplifiting, the Db major key falling perfectly between minor and major-sounding keys.

While this album was certainly an evolution from Smoke 'n Mirrors, Evolve seems to have a few more misses than hits in terms of its tracklist, but is still a worthwhile listen, if not to understand the album as a whole.