More about: MuseNothing But Thieves

A towering wall of sound that stands tall as rock to be taken very, very seriously - that's what you get with Nothing But Thieves. So much so, that Muse have hand-picked them to support them on their European Drones tour. You'd assume that NBS have pretty good taste too. 

To find out, we put the week's biggest new tracks to them - inviting guitarist Joe Langridge-Brown to review huge new ones by Foals, Frightened Rabbit, The Kills and many more. Here are his verdicts...

Foals - Rain
"What Went Down was one of my favourite albums of last year, so always eager to hear anything new Foals related - this did not disappoint. Instantly hooky synth intro which kept on coming. I was expecting it to all come together in a classic Foals slow build but this just simmered along, which I like. It was recorded for Record Store Day but if they play it live I can see it being a great moment. These guys always seem to be one step ahead of us in the US alternative charts but I love 'em so who cares."

Frightened Rabbit - 'Get Out'
"Feels a little dated to me - like it should have been released as a follow up Athlete single in 2005 - but it's an undeniable chorus. Got stuck in my head anyway. Well written song, quite a few of the lyrics jumped out at me. 'A zealot King, cursed, a devotee of the heady golden dance she does'."

T.O.L.D. - 'Return Forever'
"Not really my sort of thing. I liked the pay off at the end and the way it all kinda felt like it melted into itself."

Architects - A Match Made In Heaven
"Firstly, I'm glad there are artists out there that still write about things that matter. There's not enough of it. They don't say anything new about the Blair/Bush war crimes argument but at least they say something. I imagine their fans will go nuts when they play this live. Not my sort of thing but played it to Phil and he loved it."

Kverlertak - '1985'
"Haven't heard of this band before - what a mix of influences. Bassy Kyuss like guitar crosses with what sounds like Van Halen fronted by Liam Cormier. (Cancer Bats) What do you even say to that. Sounds like they don't take themselves too seriously and have a laugh with it, good for them."

Shock Machine - 'Shock Machine'
"This is great van music, good to relax to on a long journey. Feels old skool and modern at the same time which is hard to pull off, kinda like Tame Impala. Psychedelic and swimmy. Will absolutely listen to this more, thanks for introducing me. Wont watch the video again though, made me seasick."

The Kills - 'Doing It To Death'
"Already a fan of this song. It's just cool isn't it. Love the inventiveness of Hince's riffs and the synths in the background give it extra depth. Doesn't lose the classic Kills rawness though. Vocals sound and feel great. Really enjoy the short delay on the guitar sound, gonna mess around with that myself I reckon."

Band of Skulls - 'Killer'
"Oh yes. Everyday. The grooves this band come up with are always killer, that's where the magic lies. Don't miss the riff under the chorus vocal. Builds into an intense, beautiful mess at the end. Saw them support QOTSA a while back and keep meaning to again. 'Woop killer, killer, killer' is an absolute ear worm."

Emmy the Great - 'Algorithm' 
"Brilliant video. They built a programme which generates video treatments by giving it snippets of different music videos and then used what the programme created as the video to the song. (Yeah I had to research that to work out what the hell was going on.) Wonder if they'll let us borrow it. Had to listen to the song again without looking at the video to really get to know it. It's singer/song writer-y but the interesting production really makes it."

Muse's upcoming UK tour dates are below. For tickets and more information, visit here.  

Muse will play:
April
2 Birmingham Barclaycard Arena (w/ Nothing But Thieves)
3 London O2 Arena (w/ Nothing But Thieves)
5 Dublin 3Arena (w/ Nothing But Thieves)
6 Belfast SSE Arena (w/ Nothing But Thieves)
8 Manchester Arena (w/ Nothing But Thieves)
9 Manchester Arena (w/ Phantogram)
11 London O2 Arena (w/ Phantogram)
12 London O2 Arena (w/ Phantogram)
14 London O2 Arena (w/ Phantogram)
15 London O2 Arena (w/ Phantogram)
17 Glasgow SSE Hydro (w/ Phantogram)
18 Glasgow SSE Hydro (w/ Nothing But Thieves)

More about: MuseNothing But Thieves