The Plot in You - Could You Watch Your Children Burn REVIEW

     Let's talk about Risecore.
     You can't get far in the modern scene without hearing about the so-called evolution of crabcore (even though I find it hard to believe such a hideous thing could possibly stick around long enough to change), the bizarre amalgamation of dubstep electro coupled to a plethora of breakdowns. So named because many practitioners are found on Rise Records, the subgenre has become a scapegoat for veteran metalcore fans still lamenting the days of Earth Crisis.
      Enter the Plot in You - a band out of Christcore capital Ohio with a single album under their belt (2011's First Born) and one of the darkest messages the scene has ever seen. First Born is a concept album told from the point of view of a mistake child, covering topics such as abortion, domestic abuse, and depression. Compared to the typical crabcore 'I'm sad because my girlfriend left me :(' or 'We're better than you because we do what we love' ballad, the Plot in You certainly turned heads as they tackled very real issues with recordmates as cliche as Miss May I and Upon this Dawning.
       Thus is the stage set for their release of Could You Watch Your Children Burn next week. The title seems to suggest a continuation of the themes of First Born, and it some ways, it is. The first single released 'Premeditated' is an oath of revenge against a rapist. 'Fiction Religion' tackles the listlessness and feeling of futility accompanied by depression. 'Population Control' deals with drug addiction. As the record goes on, however, it becomes a bit more angry and generic as vocalist Landon Trewers rants and yells, melding spoken with unclean vocals.
          This is, overall, an incredibly serious album. While some might argue this is the new trend in metalcore - colloquially dubbed 'srscore' - I have to say that most bands typically labeled 'srscore' (Attack Attack!, The Devil Wears Prada, etc.), are rather vague about the themes they deal with.
       It's the specificity of TPIY's subject matter that sets them apart - these are all, as said before, pertinent and poignant problems. Fortunately, this uniqueness continues into the instrumentals TPIY unleashes. There's a good amount of time signature and song structure variation - and the album never quite turns off the intensity, swapping Trewers' screams for spoken words. 'This is a fucking promise' he vows quietly  on 'Troll' (which is Trewers' rant about his own abusive father)  'that I will make your life miserable'.
        Clean vocals are used very sparingly, and are almost never at odds or in contrast to the other instrumentals - the guitars will skillfully segue into melodic portions that support and mold well, hormoniously combining the various instruments together. Cleans, in fact, are delegated to their very own songs - 'Shyann Weeps' begins cleanly, and then rapidly goes back and forth between screaming and singing. Alternate picked riffs abound - a rarity in metalcore these days - and while there is a breakdown every song, there's a conscious amount of effort thrown in as well. Despite all this, however, the band is irreversibly Risecore - and while that may be a difficult hurdle to overcome, TPIY nevertheless make headway lyrically - even if there is a line that goes 'fuck your damn tattoo'!
        To conclude, I think Could You Watch Your Children Burn is a sign that Rise is attempting to diversify and shake their current image. In between signing the Acacia Strain last summer, and the seriousness of TPIY's subject matter, this may very well be a sign that change is on the horizon.

        Could You Watch Your Children Burn will be released on January 15th. The Plot in You have joined Emmure, Whitechapel, Obey the Brave, and Unearth as part of the Brothers of Brutality tour across North America from today until early March.