Nothing But Thieves

After seeing Nothing But Thieves support Twin Atlantic during their 2014 tour, I knew they were a band to look out for. Never did I imagine the Essex five piece rock band to blow up so quickly. Their debut self-titled album featuring singles ‘Trip Switch’, ‘Graveyard Whistling’ and ‘Itch’ is to be released October 16th and if I were you I would pre-order it right this second or get ready to sprint to the shelves October 16th morning.

The riff-heavy album starts with a bang with ‘Excuse Me’. With the catchy chorus mixing with Conor Mason’s sweet modulated but gritty vocals the album is immediately made captivating after just one track. Mason’s vocals have matured drastically over the past year with the comparison of Jeff Buckley thrown back and forth, I think that can soon be forgotten as Mason’s voice is becoming his own. Smashing high notes in the chorus mixed with gravely husky verses, it adds a distinctive extra layer and texture to the track.

The hits just keep flowing with ‘Ban All The Music’, ‘Wake Up Call’ and ‘Itch’, all of which could and should end up being played on Radio 1’s A or B list.

This new style of theirs isn't shown in every track as ‘Graveyard Whistling’ brings the tone down with a more commercial sound and doesn’t fully show off Mason’s lyrical potential that’s clearly shown through most of the album. This could be due to the fact that some of the songs were written more than 2 years ago but the clear contrast between old and new songs destroys the perfectly formed album for me.

Innovative, resonant and assertive guitar riffs own the album completely especially shown in ‘Itch’ with a slight Muse and Radiohead sound but ending the album with ‘Tempt You’ was a rookie mistake. I found the song a tedious listen compared to the other vibrant powerful tracks but putting that aside Nothing But Thieves debut album has proved the band are going to shake up the industry and overtake many alternative rock bands on their way to the top. Without their old music sneaking in-between what are soon to be massive hits, the album is faultless.