Heartbreak, personal turmoil and emotional despair are the standard backbone for multiple songwriters to find something “extra” from within themselves. This is the case for THE PLOT IN YOU who empty their souls and tear at the mental stitches on the band’s fourth full-length release ‘Dispose’. The expletive-filled ’Rigged’ unzips Landon Tewers powerful voice and unleashes some beautifully typical anger tinged vocals which switch between the plethora of modern Metal singing styles. The opening track’s lack of flow is compensated by a quirk quality that leaves any and every musical door open for the rest of the album. ‘Not Just Breathing’ has a Linkin Park style of softly sung lyrics that explode with guitars, drum and backing vocals. It’s a well-worn formula which has been exploited to the point of extinction but TPIY manages to get the defibrillator on the song’s chest, just in time. Next up is the similar ’One Last Time’ while ’I Always Wanted To Leave’ goes for a slower more mournful feel, it works and highlights Tewers voice which can go from choirboy to a raspy Chester in the blink of an eye. ’Feel Nothing’ is followed by the psychologist chair ditty ’Happy’, which it is not. The internal fog is slightly lifted by an anthemic ’The One You Loved’ before ’Paid In Full’ sways to the album’s familiar beat.
Finally ‘The Sound’ and the sexually nihilistic ‘Disposable Fix’ which plays hide and seek with love, in the back bunk of the tour bus. This release is a grower but is in need of some mood variation, it’s so fucking dark, just a flicker of light at the end of the therapy tunnel, please. If there ever is a video to this album it will be shot in black and white and feature a multitude sweaty slow-motion live shots before panning to the dressing room where a topless tattooed musician will sit with a towel resting over his bowed head. Unable to enjoy any adulation as the personal demons from his desperate childhood/teenage years slowly eat him alive, from the inside. The rest of the room is filled with fast moving, smiling faces all enjoying backstage shenanigans and they’ll be in colour… I think.
THE PLOT IN YOU
DISPOSE
Fearless Records
7/10