Nothing But Thieves Stray Dogs Album review by Ryan Beardsley
Nothing But Thieves are back with their first new material in 3 years in the form of Stray Dogs. The lads from Southend-on-Sea, led by frontman Connor Mason, will be hoping to replicate the success of their last LP, Dead Club City, which was an against-the-odds No. 1 hit.
The eponymous album opener is reminiscent of early Muse in the guitar work, not necessarily a bad thing to be aping one of the band’s main influences, seeing as they’ve supported them on numerous occasions. Frontman Connor Mason’s vocals, particularly the falsetto chorus, can’t help but feel like a Matt Bellamy impression, but it’s a fine homage.
Things pick up on Testosterone; it’s got a catchy refrain and is well produced for a weight that should work wonders in the big arena shows they have on the horizon. Next year sees a headline show at the o2 Arena, which is a massive achievement.
Evolution is textbook alt guitar rock that is saved by an undeniably infectious chorus, a bit of a theme that is developing, but when you set out to make an anthem, and you nail the difficult bit, you can’t complain.
If You Don’t Have Someone To Love works as a standard alt rock ballad; again, whoever is behind the mixing desk is doing the heavy lifting, so kudos to the Producer(s). It’ll please the diehards, and if they’re lucky, it might just cross over to singles success, which I get the sense they’re aiming towards with this record.
Baby Kool is the best song on the LP, it feels organic and legit, devoid of any pretension or immediate influences, and knocks the chorus out of the park. Next up is AI, and if you’re going to name a song after one of the hottest button topics of the day, you better have something interesting to say…sadly they don’t.
Album closer A Different Kind of Happiness ends the record on an optimistic note, which is something of a U-turn for the album, but a welcome one. So all in all, have they got another winner here? I wouldn’t bet against another number one and a mainstream breakthrough, which is clearly the aim; power to them.
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