Thick As Thieves – emotional, personal, depressing

Background singing and piano; that is how the most emotional song of Threat To Survival starts. The piano is joined by a bass drum and clapping, both very rhythmic. The words at the end of the stanzas get pulled up at the end which makes them appear more dramatic and the voice more desperate.

Within chorus, the drums get heavier and the guitar joins in and stays. In contrast to the previous songs the rhythm slows down in the chorus.

Brent Smith said on Twitter that Thick As Thieves was hard for him to write. It deals with acknowledgements of guilt which belong to personal development as well as being strong and being oneself. In the stanzas, each observation is introduced by an “evidently” which implicates that the lyrical I stresses the fact that its mistakes and the resulting behavior are on the one hand watched subjectively by it but are, on the other hand, obvious for everyone.

The song is about losing a beloved person. In the middle of the process, the lyrical I confesses to itself that it is his fault, so it tries to stop the separation from happening and to reach out to that beloved person. The song is about personal impressions and emotions. The grief is noticeable for the listener. Finally, there will be a solution. “We will still be thick as thieves” – we will always be inseparable.

Favorite line: “You built this fortress. I stumble towards it.”

Listen to Shinedown's Thick As Thieves here:

 
Buy Threat To Survival here.