You Me at Six // Sinners Never Sleep

Since their last release, Hold Me Down, hit number 5 in the UK album chart and earned the band spots on the main stages of some of the UKs most prestigious rock festivals, You Me At Six have been under a lot of pressure from record labels and fans alike to write an even better album. The band promised a more mature sound that stepped away from their usual pop-punk style and I believe they have successfully succeeded in doing so on new album Sinners Never Sleep. Long stints on tour and inter-band tension have opened them up to a new genre of song writing and this is definitely shown in the two stand out tracks for me; ‘Time Is Money’ and ‘Bite My Tongue. Guest vocalists Winston McCall and Oli Sykes feature respectively and blend their hardcore growls almost seamlessly with You Me At Six’s slick guitars and clever choruses. Along with these new sounding, heavier tracks, the guys have still featured some classic infectious pop-punk in the form of Lead Single ‘Loverboy’, ‘Jaws On The Floor’ and ‘Reckless’. ‘Little Death’ and album finale ‘When We Were Younger’ slow things down a little and give the guys room to really showcase how much they have improved as musicians and lyricists. Overall, Sinners Never Sleep is a solid rock album that with each song exposes a different side of the struggles and successes they have had to go through as a band and as people.

9/10 Ellie Smith