YOU ME AT SIX - TRUTH DECAY
With nostalgia clawing at their heels, You Me At Six half-believed that 2021’s SUCKAPUNCH would be their last. It marked a shift in the bands psyche, offering some sense of rebirth, and saw the group successfully pushing for new sounds. Though the Weybridge five are no strangers to experimenting with other genres - 2017’s Night People was a foray into the world of indie-rock, 2018’s VI took a more conventional pop route and SUCKAPUNCH embraced a rockier path - the bands latest record, Truth Decay, appears to be more intimate and finds the band going back to their basics.
When it comes to big-chorus, massive-melody rock built for radio, You Me At Six have consistently delivered. Kicking the album off in great fashion, lead single ‘Deep Cuts’, a punchy indie-rock track, features a hypnotic drum beat and thumping bassline reminiscent of bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Kooks. As frontman Josh Franceschi spits out the first verse confidently despite some of the lyrics being posed as a question, such delivery gives the impression that the answer is already known. His sharp, abrupt delivery paired with a killer rhythm makes for a great opener. You couldn’t ask for better.
Treading down a darker path, Truth Decay is also, perhaps, the bands most frank record to date. As they continue to significantly push the envelope, penning some genuinely heavy, dark-at-heart material, ‘Mixed Emotions (I Didn’t Know How To Tell You What I Was Going Through)’ grapples with the impact of the bands career on their mental health. The slow, soft opening, which is brought to life by a toe-tapping worthy bass, only elevates the lyrical content as the beat gives way to emotionally rousing lyrics as Franceschi exclaims: “Oh, we were just boys back then / Hanging on by a thread / I didn’t know how to tell you / What it was I had been going through / Oh, it’s better left unsaid / It’s been weighing me down since then.”
Though predictability lightly lingers in the air, with tracks like ‘After Love In The After Hours’ and ‘No Future? Yeah Right’ it’s hard to deny You Me At Six’s knack for anthemic choruses. With its foot slightly in 2011’s Sinners Never Sleep territory, ‘After Love In The After Hours’ boasts one of the strongest choruses on the record. The subtle, moody guitar riffs perfectly blend the electronic keyboard in to comfortably fit within the sonic realms of noughties alt-rock and pop-punk before the breakdown shows off how dependable the band are on drummer Dan Flint. It’s at this point that it’s easy to see the bands mission of sounding like “quintessential You Me At Six with a twist” runs high, their statement of “nuance is out, catchy and melodic rock that goes down smoothly is in,” as clear as ever.
In all it’s glory, Truth Decay has something for everyone. It’s an album that showcases a band maturing and breaking free of conventions; though some of its lyrical content isn’t exactly Shakespearean, take ‘God Bless The 90’s Kids’ as an example, it’s made up for with fun, funky pop-rock bangers. Whether it be its undeniable charm, callbacks to noughties alt-rock and pop-punk, or, in some cases, its hard-hitting lyrics, there’s enough packed into the 13 songs for everyone to enjoy. Arguably, Truth Decay may even be You Me At Six’s best record in the last six years.
Shannon Garner
★★★★☆