Lockdown Listens #4 - You Me At Six

When I created a SpaceHey account literally a week ago, it sparked a sudden burst of hunger. A craving, if you will for some early noughties nostalgia. I've spent the last week checking out my Release Radar on Spotify and came across You Me At Six's latest album, SUCKAPUNCH.

As a veteran of early noughties subcultures, defining one's self as emo/scene kid/mosher/goth, the last time I listened to You Me At Six was probably when Take Off Your Colours was released which was a dynamite album! Since 2009, I've explored other music avenues so when I saw this appear, I decided to check out what they had been up to since 2k9. Turns out quite a lot. Has anyone else been guilty of straying away from bands for a bit and when you come back they've released 6 other albums!? I actually felt really bad about it. It's like moving away for a few years and coming back to discover you have officially become a stranger in your own town.

It starts with a really good opener, Nice To Me which sounds fresh and has a really good beat to it before Josh’s vocals enter to pack a punch. I do wonder why Maradona makes an appearance into this song though. I get the hand of God reference but with regards to the rest of the song...why? Other than that it’s a really decent song with a catchy chorus. We’re then taken into a more heavier side to You Me At Six with MAKEMEFEELALIVE. I think the lyrics of this song in particular are quite powerful and I think it’s a song that a lot of people will find relatable. There is no doubt that the pandemic has influenced their lyrics here. Beautiful Way is one of the stronger songs on the album and I really enjoyed this one. I particularly like the beginning “Love is a drug but it doesn’t come with a warning/ When the comedown comes you know you’re gonna be in mourning." Now here is when the album takes a different turn, starting with WYDRN. I'm not gonna lie, just the title of this song made me feel like a dinosaur. To think I always thought I was down with it when I used to refer to to You Me At Six as YM@6 and it embarrassingly took a lot longer to figure out what it stood for. Then you come across lyrics like "And are we speaking the same language?/ ‘Cause when you talk, I can't understand it." Well I'm not surprised with abbreviations like that! This song reminded me like a pop record that I've probably heard being played in Jaks up Wigan on a night out so that one wasn't for me. SUCKAPUNCH is another strong song with a great, headbang-worthy bridge but don’t get used to it for so long because Kill The Mood will change the pace of the album once more and take it down a notch. I would say it changes the mood rather than kills it. Of course we can’t have a rock album without a slow song like Glasgow but I can’t help but hear similarities to Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars. We are then brought back up again by Adrenaline which is my favourite track on this album. I could definitely imagine this be executed brilliantly live and the audience belting out the chorus. Voicenotes brings elements of early 2000s nu-metal, I got early Linkin Park vibes from that song. Finish What I Started is another gig-worthy anthem which I think would have rounded off the album nicely but is interrupted by What It’s Like which feels more out of place than Maradona in the first track.

So on the whole, I didn't mind the album. I like that it's extremely different to their debut and it shows how they've come a long way. There's definitely a lot of experimenting going on which I think is important for musicians to do and I appreciate that. There's a few good tracks on there but as a whole, I would rate it a 3/5. They've managed to reach number 1 with it anyhow so fair play on them.