Cavalier Youth by You Me At Six album review

Five young men in their twenties have managed to rise through the ranks to become a stadium filling pop punk band. This is quite remarkable seeing as only a handful of bands from this particular genre have managed to do this. These bands are usually veterans though such as Blink 182 and Green Day. So how did a band from Surrey manage to achieve this? Well pop punk used to be a genre that was dominated by American bands, so You Me At Six did something about this and managed to get UK pop punk on the map by constantly working hard. But of course, playing stadiums means making your music more accessible so that you can get as many people to your gigs as possible (those stadiums aren't gonna fill themselves!). This isn't a bad thing though, it's just hard to get that balance of pleasing your old fans as well as the new ones.

"Cavalier Youth" is the fourth offering from You Me At Six so they're certainly no beginners. You would expect some sort of progression in sound by now but it doesn't appear to be there most of the time. Sure, lead single "Lived a Lie" has a big vocal hook but it's really lacking in terms of instrumentation. For example, the guitars sound exactly the same as they did on the previous albums. "Win Some, Lose Some" is really uninspiring as it sounds just like the lead single. The same adjective applies to "Carpe Diem" and "Wild Ones" too. 

The album does have it's interesting moments though where things are shaken up a bit. Some of these moments are frustrating and some are refreshing. "Room To Breathe" sounds massive but you won't have any room to breathe because it sounds so massive. "Be Who You Are" is a charming little acoustic interlude but it's far too short (it doesn't even last two minutes). 

Half of the tracks on this album though are pretty decent though and they stop it from becoming a bit of train wreck. "Fresh Start Fever" is snarly sounding with it's grizzly vocals and Bond-esque guitar parts, it makes for a great listen. The power chord in the chorus ruin it slightly though. "Forgive and Forget" is fantastic regret fuelled anthem and "Cold Night" is a sweet heart felt pop punk serenade. "Hope For The Best" sounds like an old school American pop punk song that could've been written by Jimmy Eat World. It's basic but it does the trick by being really simple: It's fast, catchy and fun. That's it.

Overall "Cavalier Youth" is a wasted opportunity. It probably would've been a lot better if the band had spent an extra six months in the studio, so they could try out different guitar and drum sounds rather than the same old raw ones. Maybe the band were trying to appeal the their old fans? However you can't really do that if you wanna sell out stadiums. The hooks are there but the inspiration isn't. If You Me At Six tried again then they'd probably get it right. After all, they're still in their twenties and they've got plenty of time to perfect a stadium sound. 

OVERALL: 5/10

BEST SONGS: FORGIVE AND FORGET, COLD NIGHT, HOPE FOR THE BEST.
WORST SONGS: WIN SOME LOSE SOME, CARPE DIEM, WILDS ONES.