“What is my voice to you?”
Ohio’s The Plot In You have been a band near and dear to my heart for many years now. Through eras and sound changes, there’s always been something bringing me back to the group. Against the odds, this too is in spite of a stark sound change directly after the group released one of my all-time favourite albums, Happiness In Self-Destruction, back in 2015. 2018’s Dispose marked a new era for Plot; one in which they essentially stripped themselves of their former selves entirely.
Of course, given my feelings surrounding that 2015, the sound change initially left me with a sour taste in my mouth. With time, however, I grew to appreciate it more and more. Vocalist Landon Tewers’ hooks were stronger than ever on Dispose, and the heightened focus on electronics, strings and basically all things that weren’t angery chugs helped give the record an identity of its own. That brings us to now with Swan Song, the group’s now-second effort in which Tewers hasn’t taken the reins on all facets of the album’s creation.
The thing that intrigued me the most about Swan Song from the get-go was the group’s seeming insistence of blending the poppier edge of Dispose with a super gritty, aggressive sound. If you had asked me when Dispose came out what I wanted out of a Plot record, on paper I believe that blend is exactly what I would’ve asked for. In practice, however, I believe it’s yielded some different results. That’s not to say that anything here is bad by any stretch, however I feel that Swan Song straddles a middle ground that I didn’t quite realise would be such a challenge to balance.
Openers “Letters To A Dead Friend” and “Fall Again” set the stage for the record relatively well – for better and for worse. The former of which seems to harken back a tad to Dispose’s stellar intro “Rigged” with its lowkey, slick build into its heavy industrial-rock-tinged closing section. That said, a problem seems to rear its head on “Fall Again”, as the track’s hyper-aggressive style feels significantly neutered due to the relatively flat sounding drum mixing. This is an issue that crops up a few times across the record, too, and it’s one that I can’t help but find frustrating, as the remainder of the production work sounds so good. From the vocals, to the synthwork, to the clever use of vocal samples (“Face Me”, “Enemy”), drums notwithstanding this record sounds fantastic.
On the flipside, however, the chorus found on “Fall Again” is undeniably killer, with Tewers pulling off his iconic pitched scream masterfully. In an interesting twist, aesthetically, its robotic synth work and chunky guitars actually leave “Fall Again”, and many of the heavier cuts across Swan Song feeling more like a track off of Tewers’ concept EP series ai640 than anything Plot have penned previously.
On a more outright positive level, mid-album cut “Too Far Gone” is an absolute treat. With an infectious hook and an anthemic, string-laden instrumental reminiscent of “One Last Time”, it serves as one of the strongest cuts across the entire record. This track, as well as the previously discussed “Fall Again” demonstrate Swan Song’s utmost strength in the upper echelon of its tracklist – Tewers, and his ability to craft and perform an absolutely killer hook. Strewn across this record are infectious hooks, fantastic lyrics and absolutely stellar vocal performances.
Despite my love of some of these songs, however, I find it quite hard to be fully enthused about some of the cuts here. Lead single “Face Me”, while containing one of my favourite isolated moments in its unique vocal sample before its breakdown, failed to truly wow me upon its release. Tewers’ performance here, typically, is fantastic, but there isn’t much about this track that particularly grabs me versus some of the stronger tunes here.
Even in tunes that I quite enjoy like “Too Heavy”, I can’t escape this feeling that they’ve done so much of this better before. I feel that in attempting to appease an audience pining for a heavier sound, the poppier sensibilities (which, in my opinion, made Dispose as good as it was) aren’t quite as strongly pulled off here. Sure, slipping a Post Malone-esque (seriously) hook into a metal album is quite a masterfully executed move, but in general I feel that this album doesn’t really have its own “Disposable Fix” or “Feel Nothing“.
Back to the good, though. Late-album highlight “Whole Without You” ramps up the aggression in a much-needed way. The hate-laden vocal performance here feels a tad more familiar, reminding me of some of the more emotive cuts from Happiness In Self-Destruction. As discussed however, on an instrumental level the heavier moments still feel quite alien to what fans will have come to expect from a mainline Plot release. That’s not to say that’s entirely a bad thing here, though. The way this track ramps up from its quiet reserved starting moments, to introducing some incredibly tight drum work from Michael Cooper, before exploding into a truly pissed off back half laden with riffs and groove may not remind me of much of what I loved about this group’s heavier moments in the past, but it’s undeniably fucking good.
In terms of further highlights, final track “Freed” seems to aesthetically tie itself back to the album’s intro, but with a tad more confidence and energy. To say this album ends with a bang is an understatement, however. Despite many of my reservations for the album as a whole, they could not have crafted a more appropriate closer. This thing is cinematic as all fuck; with what sounds like an orchestral arrangement of drums, horns and strings building to its slick, guitar-driven back half as Tewers emotively croons over the top in one of his best performances across the record.
Swan Song is far from a bad album. In fact, it’s quite good. I just can’t escape this looming sense of disappointment with the package as a whole here, though. The group’s intent to move back toward a heavier sound, while novel in concept, has yielded some mixed results. I feel as if the group pulled off the poppier sounds more gracefully on Dispose, and while the amplified heaviness is certainly welcome, it feels entirely unfamiliar for the group. The resulting conclusion is that I can’t shake the feeling they’ve done all of this better before. With that said though, there are still some absolutely stellar cuts on this thing.”Paradigm”, “Both To Blame”, “Whole Without Me” and “Freed” all represent some of the strongest tracks I’ve heard all year. Despite that, I find it quite hard to be enthused by much of this record. A mixed bag of sounds, mired by its own insistence on straddling a line between heavy and poppy, plus some uneven drum mixing, leave Swan Song feeling like an awkward middle child in The Plot In You’s discography, despite some truly strong songwriting and performances. Perhaps in time my feelings on Swan Song will evolve, much like they did with Dispose. Only time will tell, though.
Swan Song will be available next Friday, September 17th via Fearless Records, and you can pre-order the album here.
6.5/10