‘What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way?’ EP review
By Sonam Kaloti, Arts Editor
5/5
Rock music just keeps on getting better. Nothing But Thieves released a new EP on October 19 titled What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way? On their Instagram they announced that they are disappointingly “hibernating for a big chunk of next year and this is the last bit of new music [we’re] gonna get from [them].” Although it consists of (sadly) only four songs, each one is worth an entire album. The songs are “Forever & Ever More”, “Gods”, “You Know Me Too Well”, and “Take This Lonely Heart”.
The EP is 100 percent a quality over quantity situation. It is heavy compared to most of their popular work, but it is on par with my favourite song off their last record Broken Machine, “Number 13”. Like that song, in this EP the bass lines are intense, the drums are banging, the guitars are shredding, and the vocals—don’t even get me started. The band is made up of five members: frontman Conor Mason on vocals and guitar, guitarist Joe Langridge-Brown, guitarist and keyboardist Dominic Craik, bassist Philip Blake, and drummer James Price. As Mason sings in “Take This Lonely Heart”, they’ve “got a message that you can’t ignore”—and within these songs, the messages speak measures.
“Forever & Ever More” was released early as a single and works well for the Halloween season. It is about falling in love with a vampire, characterized by the lines “What did you think when you love me this way?” and “We’ll be together forever and ever and more.” A little more obviously, there’s also the line “Hold me close my little Draculove.” The music video for this single follows a feverish man, looking confused and angry as he adjusts to becoming a vampire. It has many artistic shots including being underwater, looking at the sun, and close-ups of skin. Visually, the video switches from muted colours and grainy shots to harsh single colours like reds and blues. The meaning could be interpreted as struggling with a toxic relationship.
“Gods” is my favourite song on the EP. The sound is savoury as Mason’s voice is smooth and dark, helped by his clean vibrato. The bass and guitars mingle flawlessly, and the drums add just the right amount of intensity to what is a very intense song despite its smooth essence. The meaning is pretty simply stated through lines such as, “Don’t you know fame? Oh, it’s their next religion.” The song emphasizes how gods are all around us in celebrity news and in politics. They are a powerful group of people who “put our kids in cages” and whom we do not get a chance to resist.
The whole record is incredible. “You Know Me Too Well”, and “Take This Lonely Heart” hold just as much weight as the other tracks. For an intellectual headbanging session, I would highly recommend checking out this EP.
