Album Review #3 - Broken Machine by Nothing But Thieves

Broken Machine, Nothing But Thieves' second album, was released in 2017 and I remember being very excited waiting for its release. Let's take a look!

I Was Just a Kid
I Was Just Kid is possible Nothing But Thieves' most energetic track. Its driving riff opens the song as something not amiss on a Queens of the Stone Age or Muse song (definitely not a bad thing). I also really dig the vocal melodies on this song, and Conor's voice is great in the choruses as always.
8/10 EDIT: I'd say 9/10 now, it's stuck in my head, love it.

Amsterdam
Amsterdam was the first single released for the album and I remember when it was first played on the radio (one of the few times I've tuned in). My first impressions were that a) Conor's vocals are still incredible and b) it's quite pop punky. It has a certain angst to it that, while not something I desire in a song, is perfectly suitable here. The bit just after the quite bit where the vocals are on their own is absolutely insane. Conor is on top form in this album.
8/10

Sorry
Sorry is incredibly radio-friendly, with cheesy rhymes and a chill, sad acoustic tune throughout but goddamn it is so catchy ("Maybe I'm bad-natured, or maybe I'm young"). I think my biggest problem with it is the simple electric guitar riff in the second half but even then more elements are added to make it interesting.
8/10

Broken Machine
The opening of this song strikes me as very Radiohead influenced, it's slightly odd. The main problem with the title track is that it's just a bit boring and repetitive. Even the exciting choruses have fairly bland riffs, only made good but the filtered vocals. It's a good song but not brilliant.
7/10

Live Like Animals
Surprisingly, the rapping works pretty well here. Conor isn't amazing at rapping but he's pretty decent. The scratchy backing riff is really cool and it's really nice after the chorus. I love the vocals at the chorus, they're just belted out and they sound amazing ("And all the kids are starting up a fire")
8/10

Soda
Adjust the lyrics a bit and Soda would work very well on The Bends by Radiohead. It has that sort of dreamy but also a bit dirty aesthetic like Fake Plastic Trees. Regardless, Soda is great, it goes for a drunk sort of feeling (like the guitar solo) which works very well with the theme of the song. The constant falsetto from Conor is very impressive too.
8/10

I'm Not Made by Design
This used to be my favourite on the album and it is definitely still fantastic. I'm Not Made by Design is by far the heaviest song on the album, implementing a (relatively) heavy guitar tone. The vocals are excellent throughout this song especially at the chorus and right before ("A-ooooh I'm not made - I'm not made by design"). Because of the heaviness of this song it is perhaps the most similar to Muse of all their songs, it would certainly fit on Absolution. I really love this one.
9/10

Particles
Particles is maybe my third favourite NBT song, showcasing the skills of all the band and Conor especially. The groovy bassline in the verses is awesome and the drumming leading up to the choruses is a highlight. Of course, the choruses are highlights, featuring some of Conor's absolute best singing ("Bayyyyybeeeeh IIIIII, tell me if I'm being stuh-range"). Best song on the album for sure.
10/10

Get Better
Get Better is a bit generic. I don't notice it on a lot of NBT songs but this just degenerates to quiet verses, loud choruses. Conor's vocals aren't even shown off that well on this one.
6/10

Hell, Yeah
The falsettos are fantastic and it has a great atmosphere especially at the end. The rest of the song is a bit boring though (the acoustic riff especially so).
6/10

Afterlife
Another slow song, Afterlife is better than the previous two and has a great atmosphere, the 'plingy' guitars in the background add a lot and the vocal melodies are good.
7/10

Unlike the previous album, the bonus tracks are not the best on the album. They are pretty close though, and deserve to be on over a couple of the other songs. They really need to stop doing this...

Reset Me
Awesome riffs, brilliant vocals ("What if you reset me, before it falls apart?"), cool solo. It's just a fantastic alt-rock song.
9/10

Number 13
Number 13 reminds me a lot of Royal Blood. The riffs fit so well on a Royal Blood song (just listen to that 1:45 riff!) and the vocal style is a bit different, very similar to that of Royal Blood's. Number 13 is a pretty great song.
8/10

There are a couple alternative versions of previous songs (acoustic Sorry and piano Particles) as well in the deluxe edition but I don't have anything to say about them.

Not as good as their debut but it shows more confidence in their style and it is still great. 8/10

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://www.atomcollectorrecords.com/blog/2019/07/31/album-review-3-broken-machine-by-nothing-but-thieves/

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