You Me At Six - Hold Me Down Album Review

Review of You Me At Six's album Hold Me Down

The successor to 2008's 'Take Off Your Colours', You Me At Six's second album will sees the quintet looking to cement a rise that culminated in a special guest slot supporting emo top dogs Paramore on an arena tour last year. This release will be supported by their own headline shows in March, which concludes with a date at Brixton Academy.

Opening track 'The Consequence' begins proceedings with all the energy you would expect from a band of this genre, pitching an impressive enthusiasm with a strong riff before a rousing close. 'Underdog' is disjointed before finding some footing with an anthemic chorus, but much like many of the songs that follow it fails to provide anything original or memorable. For an act who tries so hard to impart emotion, very little feeling comes through, though a more subtle approach proves more effective. 'Fireworks' provides a decent conclusion to the record, while 'Liquid Confidence' initially provides a break from the relentless noise, before an inevitable increase to the dynamic which results in sounding like a boyband with the guitars pumped up. There's no progression from their debut offering, which may please their current fanbase, while nothing stands out as being a potential single to rival the likes of 'Jealous Minds Think Alike' from their back catalogue. To say this is a disappointing release suggests there were high hopes for it, which was not the case, but the lack of any truly enjoyable tracks makes you despair that this is one of the acts being tipped for greater things.

Alex Lai