Label: Underdog / AWAL
Released: 10th February 2023
After a few attempts at blending hip-hop production with crunching guitars, brit-rock band You Me At Six really nailed the magic formula on 2021’s ‘SUCKAPUNCH’. Its daring collection of exhilarating anthems dragged You Me At Six into the future as they fully committed to ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ ‘s devil-may-care attitude.
New album ‘Truth Decay’ is almost the complete opposite, as You Me At Six return to the angst of their first few albums. Formed in 2004, the Surrey five-piece came up surrounded by big American pop-punk bands and did their best to compete with that Warped Tour scene. They had more edge than Busted, but only just. With emo being embraced by a new generation, and their old skool fans always clamouring for a return, ‘Truth Decay’ is a comfortable throwback record. It’s even got MySpace-inspired titles like ‘Mixed Emotions (I Didn’t Know How To Tell You What I Was Going Through)’.
‘God Bless The 90’s Kids’ is as cringe as you’d expect a bunch of thirty-somethings trying to recapture their youth to be, but it’s very much the odd one out on Truth Decay. Opener’ Deep Cuts’ is a swaggering burst of pure fury, the Rou Reynolds-featuring ‘No Future? Yeah Right’ is as defiant as the title suggests while ‘Breakdown’ is a thoroughly modern emo rager. You Me At Six may slow things down with the swaying ‘:mydopamine:’ and the glitching ‘heartLESS’, but it’s no less captivating.
‘Truth Decay’ is an extremely safe album. There’s nothing on it that You Me At Six haven’t done countless times before, and for older fans it’ll feel more like a greatest hits than a bold step forward. For the newcomers to emo though, it’s a masterclass in the raw, emotional heights of the genre. With it, perhaps You Me At Six will get the overdue respect they deserve for being the biggest emo band to come from the UK.
