You Me At Six - Hold Me Down
Review by Jack Foley
YOU Me At Six’s sophomore album Hold Me Down is a competent if largely pedestrian second album that does, at least, show signs of development.
Whereas their 2008 debut Take Off Your Colours pandered to the Fall Out Boy style of frat-boy rock and little else, Hold Me Down shows a greater maturity and a little more diversity from the Surrey-based quintet.
Amid the crunching guitar riffs is a heightened sense of melody, a sharper pop sensibility and even some optimistic romanticism.
Tracks like Liquid Confidence, in particular, demonstrate their burgeoning radio friendly appeal, opening with a harmonious background chant and building towards a lively chorus that combines melody with power. It’s an arms in the air-style anthem but is catchy as hell and really quite appealing.
The towering guitar riffs of Stay With Me, meanwhile, combine nicely with tempo changes that work well with the angst inherent in the lyrics. The impassioned chorus, meanwhile, has a pop-punk energy that’s reminiscent of bands like Blink-182 in their prime (especially in the vocal layering). It’s another highlight.
Underdog, meanwhile, is pure unbridled punk rock with a pounding drum back-beat providing the pumped-up backdrop, complete with angular, edgy guitar riffs and an emphatic chorus.
Further tracks to look out for, meanwhile, include Contagious Chemistry, which gets the mix of punk rock and pop about right (albeit back in Fall Out Boy territory), and the slightly harder edged There’s No Such Thing As Accidental Infidelity, which begins with some crunching riffs, drops some vitriolic lyrics and an emphatic chorus that leans more towards stadium filling than chart hungry.
Final track Fireworks escalates from its initial reflective tone into a soaring conclusion that is worthy of the term “epic”. It owes more to Green Day and Brand New’s style of songwriting than anything and really underlines the maturity that’s found throughout.
It’s just a shame, therefore, that tracks such as Playing The Blame Game, Safer To Hate Her and Hard To Swallow revert to such formula. They feel like lazy album fillers in the wider context of what You Me At Six are clearly trying to achieve.
That said, there’s plenty to enjoy… which means that Hold Me Down has to be considered a sophomore success.
Download picks: Underdog, Stay With Me, Liquid Confidence, There’s No Such Thing As Accidental Infidelity, Fireworks
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