You Me At Six - Album Review

Surrey quintet You Me At Six release their third album in four years and the follow up to last year's 'Hold Me Down'.  An extensive tour of North America is currently taking place, with the band set to hit the UK gig circuit in March with support from Kids In Glass Houses.

The ever-improving chart positions of YMAS' albums are evidence that the group continue to grow their fanbase, but equally telling are the rankings that their singles have achieved.  Only once have they cracked the Top 40 and this is because their tunes are not ones of instant gratification that make good hit singles - a style that is continued here.  Brooding verses regularly lurch into huge choruses - take your pick from 'Little Death', 'Bite My Tongue' and 'Loverboy' - but the lack of hooks makes an obvious case for the lack of commercial breakthrough. 

The softer touch of 'Crash' seems awfully contrived, while the six minutes-plus of finale 'When We Were Younger' are a painful closure.  The likes of Lostprophets and to a lesser extent Funeral For A Friend are more enjoyable within the genre, having appeal to an audience outside of their teens, which leaves YMAS having to draw in the next generation of adolescents when their current fans outgrow them.

Alex Lai