Sinners Never Sleep.
by theycallmejack
I’m gonna do an album review.
Never done one of these before but I thought hey! Why not! So today I’m gonna be reviewing ‘Sinners Never Sleep’ (if you hadn’t guessed by this blog’s title) the new album by my favourite band You Me At Six. Also, I’ll state here that all views here are mine and therefore subjective! Although I would be interested to know what you think, and whether you agree or disagree! So, shall we begin?!
1. Loverboy. I think just about everyone has heard this one by now with the amount that its been on the radio. I really like it. Its sort of fun and upbeat, but it is a bit heavier than what you’d expect if you were thinking Sinner’s Never Sleep would be similar to Hold Me Down. Yeah, I know a lot of reviewers have said that its a bit of trail into where the album is going, but it really is. In all honesty, I don’t think there could have been a better opening song really… my only problem with it is a comment that Josh gave about it in an interview, where he said he basically strung the lyrics together because they sounded good, but the song has no meaning… I found that a bit disappointing; I do like my music to have some meaning behind it, but then again, for what is it, Loverboy is a great song!
2. Jaws on the Floor. Now, while I wouldn’t say that this song left me peeling my jaw off the floor, it is a good song. It’s just that ever so slightly bit heavier than Loverboy, but its in a similar vein. This one seems a bit more angsty and powerful, and I really like that about it, but at the same time, it is light enough to entice in those listeners who (like me) aren’t usually into more metal kinds of music. Yeah its a good song. Not what I’d call a GREAT song, but its good.
3. Bite My Tongue. Oh this song. I think its absolutely wonderful. Mostly. Its the autobiographical song of You Me At Six’s near break up during the recording of Sinner’s Never Sleep, and as such you can really feel how much the band are putting into it. I predict that this one will be a single… my major criticism is the same criticism which Twitter suggests that many are sharing – Oli Sykes. He’s just awful. I cringe when I hear his voice – there was no reason for his appearance on this song, or this album for that matter. He’s terrible. I always fin myself skipping past it when he starts singing…
4. This Is The First Thing. The leaked song. I really really like it. I don’t know whether its just because its a bit lighter than the three tracks preceeding it, or I just like the slower songs, but its a welcome refrain from what we’ve heard so far on the album, and shows off a different side to You Me At Six. If I had to pick one track on the album which really showed how much Josh’s voice has grown and developed since Take Off Your Colours, it’d be this one. I just think its brilliant. Its a properly autumnal song. In fact, I think if I had to match Autumn 2011 to a song, this would be it. I don’t even know what I mean by that, but I think its great! One of my favourites of the whole album!
5. No One Does It Better. I really like this one too. The lyrics are just satisfying somehow, its almost as though you can feel where the song is going, and then when it does, then you feel all good about it. And yet, despite that, its a song that surprises you by throwing in the odd curveball. Towards the end, you get a very different song than you started with, and its somehow fitting, because all through the tune we’ve been experiencing this rising and falling sense of emotion, and then it just bursts out at the end and its great!
6. Little Death. I don’t understand the point of this song. I don’t get what its trying to do. The music is good, the lyrics are frankly appalling. It makes no sense. It isn’t a bad song, but its not a good one either. There’s nothing to say about it. It’s mediocre.
7. Crash. I absolutely adore this one. Its probably either my favourite, or second favourite song on the album. If you liked ‘Fireworks’ or ‘Always Attract’ then I think you’ll be a fan of this one. In fact, this song plays almost as a bit of a sequel to ‘Always Attract’, and there’s actually a line which makes explicit reference to that song, and that made me feel a little bit happy since ‘Always Attract’ is one of my favourite songs of all time… but back to ‘Crash’! Its marvellous! Its slow, melancholy, and poignant. ‘Crash’ has been placed just about perfectly in the album; if it was any further towards the beginning, it’d seem a bit depressing and out of context, and if it was any further back it’d be one of those songs that’s too long to bother listening to. Its a song about growing apart from someone and longing to have them back, and it definitely captures that mood and spirit, yet it isn’t without a sense of hopefulness which is always welcome in less upbeat songs.
8. Reckless. Much more upbeat than ‘Crash’ so it pulls you back to reality in a way. Its a bit samey and its not anything we haven’t heard from You Me At Six before. ‘Reckless’ is by no means a bad song, but it isn’t really one of the album’s stand out tracks… the guitar on it is pretty cool though!
9. Time Is Money. This one is back to You Me At Six’s new heavier sound and bloody hell, how angry does Josh sound?! I’d say its arguably the heaviest track on the album, and as such, its not exactly to my taste… that’s not to say I dislike it, but if I had to delete a few tracks off the album, this one would go. Also, I dislike Winston McCall’s bit on it. In fact, I dislike it so much that it seriously puts me off this track. I’ll be controversial here and say that I think Winston McCall on ‘Time Is Money’ is probably worse than Oli Sykes on ‘Bite My Tongue’. There’s no question of Mr McCall being as cringeworthy as Sykes, but at least you can hear what the latter is singing about…
10. Little Bit of Truth. I quite like this one. Its slower and more relaxed than its predecessor, but in a different way to ‘Crash’… its a nice song. Its just a nice song. Its the type of song you’d play over a romantic dinner, just as a bit of ambient music. The band is at top notch here and they sound fabulous! It’s a love song, but it’s a love song in a subtle way. If we take ‘Always Attract’ as that fourteen year old who thinks they’ve figured out love after a week of dating someone, ‘Little Bit of Truth’ is more like a twenty something who’s come through bad relationships and has been knocked down a peg or two, and yet has finally found true love.
11. The Dilemma. This is my other contender for my favourite track on the album. I think it’s great! And yet, I couldn’t tell you why I think so! I just think it’s a properly good song! It’s a fun, upbeat ballad about the highs and lows of a relationship and its just a great song! Definitely one that you could get up and dance to if it came on at a party! Remember before, when I said ‘No One Does It Better’ had satisfying lyrics, well ‘The Dilemma’ is exactly the same! It’s actually not the shortest track on the album (well, it nearly is) but it definitely feels like the shortest. My only criticism is that it left me wanting more!
12. When We Were Younger. I do like this song, don’t get me wrong, but its placing as the album’s last song is utterly bizarre. It just feels weird… whereas ‘The Dilemma’ noticing how short it was, this one has me noticing how long it is. It feels like self-indulgent overkill if I’m honest. It would have been perfectly suited to be the second to last song on the album, but at the back of the pack, it feels jarring and odd. You feel like there’s a place that this song is trying to get to, but it never quite manages to get there. All that said, it is a good song! It’s a bit more mournful and thought provoking than the other tracks and so it’ll leave you thinking. Maybe that was the intention. Still, I would be tempted to replace this with ‘Jaws on the Floor’ in the line up.
13. (iTunes Bonus Song) Takes One To Know One. This one is similar to ‘No One Does It Better’ in that it starts out as one song, and finishes as another. I actually think the people who bought the album of iTunes are lucky because this is a much better ending to Sinners Never Sleep than ‘When We Were Younger’! However, the song is still a bit ‘Hold Me Down’ and whereas that’s no bad thing necessarily, I just feel like You Me At Six could have done better… Its a good song, but its clear to see why it wasn’t put on the disk release! That said, I do absolutely LOVE the climactic close to the tune!
14. (Not technically on the album, but diehard fans will probably have downloaded it as well since its the B-Side to Loverboy). Moon Child. Don’t let the title decieve you. If you judged it by that, you might be fooled into thinking that this is a relaxed, calm song, maybe a love song. It is pretty much the opposite. I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan. The lyrics are crass, angry, and in all honesty, just come across as a bit cringeworthy. It’s not quite bad, but I’d place it just a little below being ‘alright’. I’m really glad it wasn’t included on the album… its a bit rubbish. If anyone watched the first series of Torchwood, when they were trying to say ‘we’re adult’ by including stupid amounts of sex, swearing and gore; this song is You Me At Six’s equivalent. It sounds as though this was one of the earliest tracks written for Sinners Never Sleep and they were almost trying to prove to themselves and the world that they’re more hardcore than they are.
So, to summarise, Sinners Never Sleep is a great album! There are one or two tracks which let it down a little, but those which don’t really do shine and more than pick up the slack! If I had to criticize one point about the album, I’d say that the whole trend for repeating a few lines over and over and over and over again at the end of the song becomes a little tiresome. I think it happens on just about every track, and has happened on just about every track that You Me At Six has ever produced… however, don’t let that put you off! Sinners Never Sleep is a step forward for You Me At Six and I think it’s definitely paid off! Its slightly odd (in a good way) for me as a fan, because its partly what I know and love, and partly a whole new style being introduced to me which I’m coming to love! There’s definitely a lot of worse ways to spend £9.99 (or £12.99 if you fancy a You Me At Six DVD as well?) and on the music scene at the moment, I don’t think there’s many better ways to spend your money actually!
So, what do you think? Have you got the album yet? Are you planning to get it? What’s your favourite song? Least favourite? Share share share!
Jack out.
