The Plot In You
Happiness in Self Destruction


3.0
good

Review

by Gameofmetal EMERITUS
October 29th, 2015 | 226 replies


Release Date: 2015 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Trapped in my old ways.

As far as metalcore frontmen go, Landon Tewers has been a pretty distinctive personality. Ever since forming The Plot In You, primarily as an outlet for his every whim and thought in musical form, the man’s lyrical content has painted a violently multifaceted image of himself. There was the concept story about his abused childhood (First Born), and then the collection of murder fantasies that was Could You Watch Your Children Burn. Taking all this as fact, Tewers seems to have had quite a life, short as it still is at his young age. Perhaps that’s what has made his past work so much more intriguing than many of his peers. He’s always worn his heart on his sleeve, no matter how intimate and uncomfortable those feelings could be. It’s not really surprising then to see that Happiness in Self Destruction takes it further than he’s ever been before, becoming his most painfully personal and emotionally uncertain record yet.

Happiness in Self Destruction bleeds Landon Tewers because The Plot In You essentially is Landon Tewers. Sure, he has backing musicians that have actually begun to contribute to the music in recent years, but from the days when he wrote First Born all by himself up to now, the sound has remained firmly his. However, that should be taken with a grain of salt considering his sound has been the furthest thing from stable stylistically. This record continues that trend, taking the sound of Could Your Watch Your Children Burn further into nu metal territory, while simultaneously spending about half the record indulging in melodic chorus-based songwriting. While neither side is perfectly or consistently executed, it’s the nu metal tendencies that let The Plot In You down the most. Fans have already gotten an earful or three of Landon’s pissed off side with the raging metalcore of First Born and the ominous stomping anger of its follow-up. The amount of time Landon spends indulging that side here is not only overkill, but many of the tracks don’t have the songwriting to keep them afloat.

Time and again, it proves to be melody and introspective lyrics that hold Happiness in Self Destruction up. A good part of that could just be that Landon’s rhythmic section doesn’t really hold up past playing out stale, but admittedly heavy riffs and beats. The emphasis on melody does add the musical depth that a lot of the album lacks. The closing title track is clearly meant to be a massive emotional climax of the record, but loses out due to directionless structuring and abrasive tones. The shorter songs are pleasant, entertaining, and strike the chords Landon has been trying to all along luckily. Truly, Happiness in Self Destruction is Landon’s most mature and intensely personal record yet, and those factors work in its favor. However, it’s also self-absorbed, overlong, and lacks cohesion. Hell, it’s kind of self-destructive in and of itself, which may have been intentional, but that doesn’t really do it that many favors in retrospect.



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user ratings (271)
3.7
great
other reviews of this album
draffy613 (4.5)
Heavy and fast as well as slow-paced and balladic, along with decent riffs and an awesome vocalist/s...

dghipskind (5)
...



Comments:Add a Comment 
Gameofmetal
Emeritus
October 29th 2015


11753 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

stream it on spotify, youtube, whatever.



tried to take some more intense feedback on my writing that I've received lately into account, dunno if it made much difference. let me know how i did

Mort.
October 30th 2015


26124 Comments


good review

im too tired for in depth feedback sorry bruh

Mort.
October 30th 2015


26124 Comments


ill give this another read and some feedback in the mornin tho

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
October 30th 2015


11753 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

i appreciate it

artiswar
October 30th 2015


14803 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

15 tracks?? Album is pretty good but so bloated. So much filler could have been trimmed here. Good review though.

Sinternet
Contributing Reviewer
October 30th 2015


26781 Comments


Congrats you actually managed to finish your review - I got halfway through and had trouble thinking about what made it so mediocre to me. Was a good read.

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
October 30th 2015


11753 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

i feel you, it was very hard to finish. i think it was more because i was putting a lot of pressure to do something different with my writing but i also thought this was hard to write about in general

Mort.
October 30th 2015


26124 Comments


" violently multifaceted image of him"

should that not be "of himself"?

"Time and again, it proves to be melody and introspective lyricisms that hold Happiness in Self Destruction up"

this reads strangely to me when coming off of the previous paragraph. I would change it to something along the lines of "instead it proves to be be melody and introspective etc". Also do you mean lyrics or lyricisms as is not sure if lyricisms is a word and "lyrics" would do just fine in this context.



Gameofmetal
Emeritus
October 30th 2015


11753 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Lyricism is definitely a word. You're right on "himself", but I'm not too sure about your complaints about the first sentence of the last paragraph. I'll look at it some more though.

Mort.
October 30th 2015


26124 Comments


im aware lyricism is a word, but lyricisms is not

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
October 30th 2015


11753 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

alright ill change it

Mort.
October 30th 2015


26124 Comments


lyricism would be fine, but honestly that s on the end is just like wat

still a very good review all in all

i havent heard anything by this i might check their debut

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
October 30th 2015


11753 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

if anything by them is up your alley it would probably be first born but im still not sure if you would dig

Jacob818Hollows
November 9th 2015


218 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Great review as usual!



I'm thinking it's consistent and solid enough to be a 3.5, and it deserves to be the best of Landon Tewers, especially with vocals (I feel like the variety he instill is quite impressive). I've been a fan of TPIY since "First Born" but loathed "Could You Watch Your Children Burn" to its core. This one is new and fresh but leans to the latter, which is somewhat bothersome in its nu-metal shenanigans.

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
November 9th 2015


11753 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

i really love CYWYCB for whatever reason but this just didnt hit me in the same way his other material has. the heavy tracks generally just do nothing for me



thx for the kind words tho

Pennywise_M
November 19th 2015


7504 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Beautiful review, basically my thoughts exactly on Landon and TPIY. Good job mate. I for one really disliked this on a first listen, but now it's consistently getting better. I absolutely agree with the aggression in this album feeling like a bit of a overkill, and that it lacks cohesion and structure in a way. It feels more like a collection of songs truly, and that closing track is so off. All in all though, most songs are starting to stand their own for themselves. The emotion is doing the rest for me. This guys keeps putting out the most beautiful, visceral music in the scene. I respect the shit out of him just for that. TPIY stand their ground strong with this one too, they got a thing going and i can't bring myself to criticize the decisions made here, although i don't necessarily back the whole album up, as i've said. Strong 3/ weak 3.5 material for sure. First half kicks my chode

Mort.
December 9th 2015


26124 Comments


Mind Control is cool but im willing to wager its the best song here

Gameofmetal
Emeritus
December 9th 2015


11753 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

My old ways is still one of my favorites

sspedding
January 6th 2016


5726 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

This is surprisingly really good

charlie15
February 26th 2016


165 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Landon is really believable throughout. Vocals are full of angst and emotion. It's a little lengthy. This could have been a superb 10-12 track record by cutting out some of the mediocre ones.



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