The Plot in You 'Vol. 3' Review

The Plot in You release Vol. 3 on Nov 8th, 2024 as a follow up to Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. Following the release of “Closure” and “Don’t Look Away” from Vol. 2 and “Divide,” and “Forgotten,” of Vol. 1, all of which are filled with heavy unclean and that gritty metalcore that I’ve come to associate them with, I was in for a surprise when I listened to Vol. 3. I was also wondering after 14 or so years of releasing music, what they had to bring to the table. Yet again, I was left pleasantly surprised by The Plot in You and still wondering what their next move is going to be; typical.

While it still has the iconic grit and heavy guitars that they do so well, what you’ll be greeted with in “Been Here Before” is undoubtedly not as heavy as some of their previous works. With a mix of their grit, some vocals reminiscent of Knuckle Puck or The Story so Far, and some softer vocals from Landon Tewers, this opening song is a glimpse of the softer side of The Plot in You that we rarely see. And I need you to know that this is hitting so hard for me. I’ve been on a midwest emo kick lately, possibly a symptom of homesickness, and I have gleefully had this EP on repeat. And with lyrics like "Stay, 'cause you need it, Break for the feeling, Take what you need from my soul" this easily has a 'scream along in your car' feeling to it that I know I'm not the only one who loves. And with a verse of Tewers' soft spoken vocals, this song is another one of The Plot in You's songs that just hit so hard rhythmically and emotionally. In my opinion, they're one of the best bands to manage this balance.

“Pretend” doesn’t keep that midwestern emo style up though. We still get a lot of clean vocals from Tewers, but it follows a more familiar path for The Plot in You. The song bounces a bit between fast rhythms, lyrical anthems, and a few soft bits, this song holds a lot of meaning in between its anthem-like lyrics. Starting the song with lines like “Artificial pleasure and peace, Numb the pain and the sorrow, No one cares to see we’re sickening, Can’t face the pain, can’t make amends, So we just all pretend, all pretend,” what sounds like an upbeat bop quickly becomes a possible extension of the call out in “Forgotten,” “This is for my friends, Who put needles in their veins, Who society erased, Hope the children all escape, This is to the men, Who wished death upon my name, Tried to push me to my grave, Swore I’d never fucking cave.” While “Forgotten” quickly became known because of it’s callout, breakdown, and it’s overall heavy sound, “Pretend” is on the opposite side of the spectrum as a song I’d easily share with my ‘entry-level’ rock friends, as I call them. And please, make no mistake, that is a great thing in my opinion. 

All this talk of softer songs and upbeat bops and then comes “Spare.”  Opening up with iconic uncleans of “Lend me the world, the cracks in the pavement, Diamonds and pearls, the damned we've forsaken” followed by a nasty breakdown right away, this song throws you for a loop at the end of this EP. Tewers goes into a soft vocal for the chorus and then immediately hops back into his uncleans. This juxtaposition of vocals in a heavy song, not just in tone, is so iconic of The Plot in You and it’s genuinely one of the reasons I love this band. And the addition of distorted vocals mixed with uncleans before a gritty breakdown, some nasty uncleans this song is such a great way to end the EP. While it’s much more aligned with what I expect from The Plot in You but it doesn’t seem repetitive or like I’ve heard it before. 

With the overall combination of midwestern emo meets metalcore, lyrics that are meaningful, and a song full of well organized uncleans, it’s no surprise I've had this on repeat. The Plot in You to me means amazing vocals, stunning instrumentals, sensational breakdowns, lyrics with depth, and overall artistry when it comes to organizing all of those aspects in the song as well as in the EP or Album. And this EP is no exception. It has a new tone to it that I don’t necessarily think of from them all while still maintaining their unique sound and abilities. Combined with the variation of tone of the songs, this isn’t an EP that would get old quickly either. You really get a bit of everything with this EP even with just 3 songs on it. I’m so interested to see how they move forward with these volumes; if they’re going to remain stand alone or if they’re going to be united into one album at the end and even how many volumes they’ll be. Whether they’re just impatient to release the new music or have some mastermind plot behind they’re reasoning, even the release method is something that I wouldn’t second guess coming from The Plot in You as they seem one of more outspoken bands in paving their own way and thinking outside the box. Whatever they’re doing, I hope they keep it up because I am absolutely eating up what they’ve been laying out lately.