In some circles, Emo is a dirty word. But not here, not today.
Not when You Me at Six have made an impeccable second album of cranking, passionate rock music; the sort of music that has spawned its own marmite-esque genre over the last decade and earned the sometimes-derogatory label of ‘Emo’.

Following in the footsteps of American Emo giants My Chemical Romance and Panic at the Disco, You Me at Six are the first British band to really make an impact on the scene, creating a sound worthy of a place in the royal court of Emo.

Like it or not, that’s what they are. It’s all there; a compressed package of crunking guitars, ferocious vocals and chantable one-liners. And it’s brilliant.

Their sound is notably more mature and less poppy than both their American counterparts and their 2008 debut, ‘Take Off Your Colours’. However, there are some incredibly catchy moments that have allowed the band a chart-friendly album that still retains all its rock credibility.
Lyrically, Hold Me Down is a vitriolic education in how to love, lose and get your heartbroken, penning an abundance of lines that will make their way onto teenage screen names and fronts of schoolbooks across the country.
Diving straight into the good stuff, album opener ‘The Consequence’ is a hunk of catchy riffs and gasping vocals with the sort of lyrics that fans across the country are already preparing to shout back at them in sweaty gig venues.
Lead single Underdog has already caught the attention of Radio 1 and no doubt a contender for a place in the Top 10 upon its release.

Other highlights include stuck-in-your-head material like ‘Safer to Hate Her’ (a ridiculous rhyme that somehow works) and ‘Hard to Swallow’ (Who do you wanna save?/Who do you want to be tonight?).
‘Contagious Chemistry’ packs a heavy punch with stabbing thumps of noise and ‘There’s No Such Thing As Accidental Infidelity’ shows that vocalist Josh Franceschi is at his best when he is at his bitterest (“Go back to someone else/ Who wants you more than me”).
Contrary to its title, Album ender ‘Fireworks’ is the closest you’re going to get to a ballad on Hold Me Down as Franceschi wails, “I don’t know who you are/When you sleep with somebody else”. It’s a brilliantly passionate end to an exhaustingly emotional album that just gets better and better the more you play it.

So many bands have successful debuts and then change their sound in an attempt to keep their fans’ attention. You Me at Six have stuck to the same sound as their debut, which can be seen as a good and bad thing depending how you look at it. The band has made another good record, but are their fans going to bore of the same sound again? Other reviewers have pulled the band up on this point, snubbing ‘Hold Me Down’ as samey, but here at UkMusicReview we think if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. And nothing needs fixing by You Me at Six.