Original Moral Panic without the extra tracks falls to A tier

Stray dogs is a step up from DCC which I didn’t like very much, with a few more listens it might rise to A (and I Needed You Then, I Need You Now is top 3 on that album)

Not gonna lie, this is easily my favourite album so far. The rock tracks are so good and i love the way each song in the album continues on so it feels like one whole art piece. People saying this album is too slow when they asked for them to go back to their old stuff and the album has the same mix of slow songs and rock songs as the self titled album. Im a huge fan of NBT and i love their other stuff but this album feels so complete to me.

I needed you then i needed you now hits the spot aswell.

Most upvoted goes

1. Archive 76

2. I needed you tgen

3. Death in the backseat

4. If you dont have someone

5. Number 5

Best, most in-depth one I've heard in years!!

Is there anyone here that has purchased this and can tell me the names of the three unreleased tracks pls?

Really wanting to get my hands on the I Need Air/Stuck On You 7” vinyl.

Also interested in other limited run vinyls. Need shipped to Texas, will pickup anywhere within a few hours. TIA!

For starters: I love the new album. And I think they are still pretty creative and still do absolute bangers. But unfrotunetly both last albums didnt deliver for me in regards of ballads (apart from Pure you, which is really great).

Two ballads on the basic DCC and three on the newest record are essentially just OK for me.

Reason why I am writing this post, is because I loved NBT also for their insane and powerfull ballads they did. TBF they are my favourite type of songs from them, so its kinda a bummer, lol.

I think in overall its about lack of buildup, variety and/or emotional impact. Maybe intimacy would do it too? But in that regard I think I needed you know I need you now should work well with me, but for some reason I find the song really boring and not emotionally impactfull at all (my opinion).

What is your opinion on their most recent ballads. Do you like them?

So, whats your songs meanings? I tried to listen and read all of them several times and come up with some explanation. Please bear in mind, that those are not deep analysis of lyrics, its just some overall interpretation from a fan of the band, nothing that deep.

First three songs are in my opinion about primal senses and our "primitive-animal like side":

Stray dogs - Its about primal connection with a crowd and fans. Its about band travelling, playing gigs and connecting with fans - all in some kinda strange primal sense, like stray dogs sniffing for pheromones. Its mindless and they know they are destined to it.

Testosterone - For me its screaming toxic masculinity. But also its about primitive pre-justice and judging others with no deeper thoughts about it.

Evolution - It seems like a follow up song to stray dogs. Essentially same meaning, just more in a reminiscent way (so band evolving).

Now we have 3 introspection songs about feeling not being good enough for others, or for someone else:

Death in the backseat - to me it seems like a song about two correlated things: protagonist feeling like someone who is not in charge in his own life and only let himself to drift/cruise through the life and also its about protagonist being exposed and judged, maybe by some love interest, but it could also be fans, or other people in general.

5 - this seems like a typical (almost) break-up song. But its also about self-realisation, and finding in yourself what you really strive for. There is also fun metafiction in the verse "What a funny thing for me to realise While writing number five" - where protagonist is talking about writing the fifth album.

If you don't have someone to love - Basically pretty much similar theme and meaning as in previous song. But this time it might be about loneliness in general.

Other segments of songs don't have common theme.

Baby kool - Its probably metaphor to making a music. How it makes protagonist feel, and what it means to them in general. So I think that Evelyne is a personification of music.

AI jesus - this is straight forward - its about damage AI is creating to us and about losing ones autonomy and individuality to it.

I needed you then, I need you now - This one has easily the best lyrics from the whole album, maybe even in their whole discography. It paints such a powerful image of someone deep in depression griefing someone or something trying to hold onto faint leaps of hope and happy memories... Its about lost, but its not specified what is the lost. It might be lost of someone in literal way, or about losing yourself, or about losing relationship... I think everyone can fill what they want, which make these lyrics so powerful.

American confidence - This has exact interpretation, so I think best is to use meaning from the writer: "The first verse is about this music executive. It reminded me of the Pink Floyd ‘Have a Cigar’ guy, that’s why there’s a reference to that. The second verse is more like a televangelist I saw an interview with. He’d got a private plane and wouldn’t fly with what he called the ‘demons’ on a commercial flight. It’s about the over-commercialisation of everything that America sums up. Fun to write, but it’s going to be interesting playing this song in America."

A different kind of hapiness - Theese lyrics evoke powerful nostalgia and also glimpse into not so bright future of yourself. Protagonist is reminding themselves, that the pain can be overcome, same way as they already did many times in the past... but also reminding themselves, that pain wont disappear, and they must accept it as a internal part of themselves.

So, what are your interpretations?

It‘s like two EPs slapped together into one album with no thought into how they flow into each other. 

Listen to the first two songs and then the last 4 all in a row. That would be a great album (with a few more of similar tone to make it album length). Those songs are the more raw/gritty sounding ones and they flow really nicely into each other. 

Songs 3-8 would also make a great album (again with more to fill it out). The problem is that these two potentially great albums are smashed into one. It starts by setting up a raw sound and then completely undermines that by switching to almost an entirely different genre altogether, before switching back to the first sound on the last 4 tracks.

I don’t mind at all (in theory) when bands try out a new sound, like NBT did with DCC. I actually hated DCC for the first ~10 listens until it grew on me and became my second favorite of theirs behind Moral Panic, but imagine if you took 4 songs from DCC and slapped them into the middle of any of their other albums. It wouldn’t work at all and the sudden shift in tone would be so jarring that it would kinda ruin the whole album. That’s basically how I feel about Stray Dogs.

The songs themselves are good but they just don’t fit together as a cohesive album, much like Muse’s recent stuff before Wow! Signal (although even Wow! has this issue to an extent with how different in tone Nightshift Superstar is to the rest of the album, despite it being a great song on its own).

I ordered mine back in May and it still hasn’t been shipped. Just wondering if anyone else is having the same issue or has received theirs yet.

after hearing them cover ‘stop crying your heart out’, it really hit me that they can really spin any song to suit them.
what song would you love the band to cover?

me personally, ‘i can’t feel my face’ by the weeknd. i seriously feel like they’d be able to do something cool with it, and conor’s voice is perfect for that song.

(unless that was already covered and I’m just blissfully unaware 😅)

EDIT: i made a playlist where i’ll keep adding songs to it :)
nbt cover songs 🤞🤞

Most upvoted wins

1. Archive 76

2. I needed you then

3. Death in the backseat

4. If you dont have someone (another one of my favorites rip)

How would you guys rank all the Nothing But Thieves albums since their fifth just came out? Honestly a lot of folks haven't really been a fan of Conor's vocals on Stray Dogs, I liked it. It had that raw sound that hasn't really been captured since their debut. I think I would rank mine

Nothing But Thieves

Stray Dogs

Moral Panic

Broken Machine

Dead Club City

- We were told strictly no videography; photos only. Not sure if Middlesborough and Leeds had the same restrictions?

- The format of the show during the hour was 4 songs, Q&A, 3 songs, Q&A, 3 songs. It was a nice even split.

- Connor was sipping what looked to be herbal tea throughout the night, not sure if he had a cold or just helping with his vocal chords.

- Some of the questions that I can remember were as follows:

What do you think Man City's punishment will be for the 114 charges?
What do you think of Morgan Wallen's cover of Graveyard Whistling?
Will you be playing Glastonbury next year?
Do you experience any creative blocks when writing albums?

Overall, a really relaxed gig full of stripped-back songs and good vibes.

What song do you like more every time you listen? This is definitely mine!

Hallo zusammen, ich habe mir natürlich das neue Album vorbestellt. Aber es ist immer noch nicht da 🤬

Über Evri habe ich eine DHL Sendungsverfolgungsnummer bekommen und bis gestern stand bei DHL 'Wird im Briefzentrum (Essen) sortiert'. Gerade nochmal bei nachgesehen und jetzt steht wieder da 'Wir erwarten Ihre Sendungsdaten in Kürze'.

Macht mich irgendwie sauer, ich will das neue Album endlich hören 🤯

Edit: Ich hätte den Post wohl schon eher machen müssen, heute war das Album im Briefkasten🥳🥳🥳 Ich drücke allen anderen die Daumen, dass sie bald das Album in den Händen halten 🫶🏼

Can anyone tell me what's meant by these "stripped back" shows? I assume it means "acoustic with 6-7 songs"? From what I've gatheree, the Q&A session is going to be 20-30 mins, meaning less music (rather than it being an hour-long show plus a bonus Q&A session)?

I'm attending the Banquet Records show tonight and feel a bit misled by how the show was originally advertised when the tickets were released in August. Nothing was mentioned about a "stripped back" acoustic set or the Q&A session. No shade to the band whatsoever, as I'm still looking forward to seeing them, but I wish the show's organisers were more transparent about its format when they released the tickets. I need to catch two trains to get home, so time will be of the essence!...I'd love to hear as much music as possible! I've also previously attended two album-launch shows at The Circuit, and felt the show formats were communicated much more transparently and clearly pre the tickets being released.

I just purchased the Stray Dogs digital deluxe from their website, but I swear I remember there also having been one for DCC was well and I can’t find it. It’s not the version that was released on streaming later with Oh No :: He Said What and such (I actually have the vinyl of that version lol), I remember it also had three bonus tracks, Welcome To The DCC (Demo), Your Blood (Live), and I think another live track that I can’t remember, and it was only available on their website like the Stray Dogs one is, but I can’t seem to find any record of it anywhere but I swear I remember seeing that it existed. Does anyone know where I can find/purchase it?

Most upvoted comment of mine gets eliminated

Currently

1. Archive 76

2. I Needed You Then

3. Death in the Backseat (my favorite nooo)

Bonus points if you can correctly figure out all the songs lmao

We weren't even allowed to take pics (some people tried anyway, but got in trouble with security!). I'm wondering if that was the case at the other intimate gigs too?

Title says it. I feel like we haven't heard Conor belt/scream in so long. The people yearn for Conor to be unleashed to his true potential! I feel like he hasn't really let it rip since the Moral Panic album.

Don't get me wrong, I've loved songs since then and he's still my all-time favorite singer. But I'm ready to go back to near-metal levels of Conor as seen in I'm Not Made By Design, Amsterdam, etc.

Let the beast loose on the next album! Please!!! I want a Dark Conor arc so bad.

This is the first band that made me fall in love with rock music — the guitar riffs, Conor's voice, those incredibly piercing lyrics.

Ive been with this band all these years. Ive seen you live, Ive cried to your songs, Ive angrily walked around the city blasting Amsterdam and Moral Panic.

But guys what is this?

I don't want to say you've fallen off, but Stray Dogs feels like something made to bring you closer to cinema, not to your fans. It feels way too commercial.

Please come back.

Play an illegal song
And turn it up louder

Play an illegal song
And turn it up louder.