Imagine Dragons - Radioactive - Night Visions
I'm sure many of you will be familiar with the work of Stephenie Meyer, i.e author of the Twilight Saga. What you may not have heard of is her second novel, The Host. Let me tell you, it is AMAZING. I'm not even sure why I love this book so much, but I really enjoy sci-fi type things, and this is one of those but also manages to incorporate a love story.
Anyway. A film version of this book has been made (which myself and my sister are VERY excited about), although none of the characters are how I imagined them to look. This song is used in the advert for the film.
It starts off with quite a soft guitar melody, and "Ohh"s over the top. It's really quite soothing and relaxing, and is making me think this will be a really nice acoustic, folky type song. This goes on for four bars. We then hear an electronic noise, like a kind of squeak, which raises higher and higher in pitch. It doesn't quite fit in with the style that I thought the song might follow, but it actually prepares us for what's coming.
The verse kicks in with a very heavy bassline, which is almost a big dubstep-ish (technical term of course). One of the lines is "I'm breathing in the chemicals", which is then followed by this intensely dramatic inhalation. It's a bit scary. But I think that's maybe what they're trying to put across.
"I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals"
In the second verse, the bassline eases off a bit, and you can faintly still hear the guitar over everything else.
"I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa"
The chorus is really dramatic, really hooks you in. They go back to the original heavy bass. The vocals are a bit shouty, but it all fits in with the context of the song:
"I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive"
After the chorus, the next verse is back down to being less heavy again. The singer, Dan Reynolds, has excellent enunciation, you can really hear everything he's saying; not all that common in singers today. In the line, "It's a revolution, I suppose", you can really hear him spitting it out. He repeats "This is it, the apocalypse". Again, he sounds really passionate about what he's saying.
"I raise my flags, dye my clothes
It's a revolution, I suppose
We'll paint it red to fit right in
Whoa
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa"
The line "Welcome to the new age" in the chorus really fits in with the plot of the novel, which is really interesting. He says it almost satirically, as though he's not very happy about the "new age" that we're entering.
"All systems go, sun hasn't died
Deep in my bones, straight from inside"
In this breakdown/middle 8 of the song, the song is reduced down again. Now that he's not singing so emphatically, Reynolds' voice has an almost Noel Gallagher-esque quality to it. It's back to the chorus for the last time, and the song ends pretty abruptly.
To be honest, I would have liked to have heard more of the slow intro bit, as I really like it and I feel like it's kind of wasted as an intro. Something I really like about this song is that they're not afraid to really show the emotion in their music and vocals, which we don't often see in bands.
Spotify:
Youtube:
Anyway. A film version of this book has been made (which myself and my sister are VERY excited about), although none of the characters are how I imagined them to look. This song is used in the advert for the film.
It starts off with quite a soft guitar melody, and "Ohh"s over the top. It's really quite soothing and relaxing, and is making me think this will be a really nice acoustic, folky type song. This goes on for four bars. We then hear an electronic noise, like a kind of squeak, which raises higher and higher in pitch. It doesn't quite fit in with the style that I thought the song might follow, but it actually prepares us for what's coming.
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| Courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/louleguilloux/8171936926/in/photostream/ |
The verse kicks in with a very heavy bassline, which is almost a big dubstep-ish (technical term of course). One of the lines is "I'm breathing in the chemicals", which is then followed by this intensely dramatic inhalation. It's a bit scary. But I think that's maybe what they're trying to put across.
"I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals"
In the second verse, the bassline eases off a bit, and you can faintly still hear the guitar over everything else.
"I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa"
The chorus is really dramatic, really hooks you in. They go back to the original heavy bass. The vocals are a bit shouty, but it all fits in with the context of the song:
"I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive"
After the chorus, the next verse is back down to being less heavy again. The singer, Dan Reynolds, has excellent enunciation, you can really hear everything he's saying; not all that common in singers today. In the line, "It's a revolution, I suppose", you can really hear him spitting it out. He repeats "This is it, the apocalypse". Again, he sounds really passionate about what he's saying.
"I raise my flags, dye my clothes
It's a revolution, I suppose
We'll paint it red to fit right in
Whoa
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa"
The line "Welcome to the new age" in the chorus really fits in with the plot of the novel, which is really interesting. He says it almost satirically, as though he's not very happy about the "new age" that we're entering.
"All systems go, sun hasn't died
Deep in my bones, straight from inside"
In this breakdown/middle 8 of the song, the song is reduced down again. Now that he's not singing so emphatically, Reynolds' voice has an almost Noel Gallagher-esque quality to it. It's back to the chorus for the last time, and the song ends pretty abruptly.
To be honest, I would have liked to have heard more of the slow intro bit, as I really like it and I feel like it's kind of wasted as an intro. Something I really like about this song is that they're not afraid to really show the emotion in their music and vocals, which we don't often see in bands.
Spotify:
Youtube:
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