They May Call it 'Hold Me Down', but There is No Holding You Me At Six Down With This Album!

Love them or hate them, the Quintet's first album ‘Take Off Your Colours’ thrust them into the limelight in 2008 and they gained an army of loyal fans. Years of relentless touring of exhilarating and adrenaline-pumping live performances, whether it be headlining shows, or supporting popular bands such as Paramore and Fall Out Boy in 2009, meant their popularity was mounting by the month.

Then, in January this year, the Quintet released their second and latest album, which successfully stormed the music charts, earning them a higher status in the pop-rock music scene. Polished and punchy ‘Hold Me Down' showcases a massive improvement on an already impressive debut, whilst still managing to retain the band's original identity.

The 12 tracks on the album all feature bouncy dramas about loyalty, betrayal and other perils of young love that anyone can relate to. The key song that highlights all these dramas is the 10th track; ‘There's No Such Thing As Accidental Infidelity’. It's a guaranteed crowd-pleaser with its 'lighters-in-the-air style' chorus, which was obviously written by singer, Josh Franceschi, with his audience in mind.

The high point of the album is debatably either the opening trio of catchy, engaging songs ‘The Consequence’, 'Underdog' and ‘Playing The Blame Game’, or the final song alone, ‘Fireworks’; the ballad.

The album opens on a high with an air raid siren, followed up by a killer riff on ‘The Consequence’ (which features The Blackout’s Sean Smith). Its infectious sound and enviable ability to please a live crowd with its upbeat and repetitive crescendo of angst makes it one of the band’s finest songs to date.

The following track, ‘Underdog’, is the infuriatingly catchy first single off the album, which shot straight to the number one position in the UK rock chart upon release. It's crunching riffs and basic but brutal drumming with an irresistible chorus that demands to be sung out loud and proud are what drives the track forward.

‘You’re not on my list of things to do, ‘cause I’ve already done you’ ‘is the opening line to the memorable track, ‘Playing The Blame Game’. It is a frankly brilliant line, yet cringeworthy at the same time. But the message stems more deeply from the dissolving love life of lead singer, Josh Franceschi, which quite clearly plays a part in the lyrical direction the album took overall.
Songs such as ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Safer To Hate Her’ in particular feature typical angst-filled lyrics directed to an ex-girlfriend, but contrasted with the up-tempo, poppy music it is the perfect combination to engage the listener.

The final track ‘Fireworks’ is the slow one, but it draws you in quickly with its combination of heartwrenching lyrics and emotive melody. The song lasts 4 minutes and 20 seconds, and the whole time it is building steadily towards a climax of Franceschi’s vocal prowess and an explosive musical finale, which ends with the lyrics "I don't know who you are" resounding loudly in the listener's head. This perfect ending serves the purpose of making you want to rewind to track one and repeat the album experience, which is quite clearly a mark of a successful album.