By The Teeth Of My Skin

Getting The Plot In You's By The Teeth Of My Skin

So you're looking for By The Teeth Of My Skin — the 2015 album by The Plot In You. It was their final release under that name before they folded into The Death of Me, and it sits somewhere between straight-edge hardcore and melodic metalcore, which is a niche within a niche anyway. It's a full-length studio album, eight tracks, about 38 minutes total. Released through Rise Records. Produced by Andy Marsh at his studio. If you know Marsh's work, you know exactly what to expect: tight, punchy drums, bass that's present but not front-and-center, and vocals that sit right in the pocket without being buried under the mix. That's actually the key thing about this record — the production is deliberate. Some people complain it's too clean for what it is, but that's missing the point. These songs are structurally complex. They need room to breathe. A murkier mix would swallow most of the guitar interplay.

I bought this on CD when it came out. Still have the disc. Streaming it now on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. All of them have it. No weird regional locks or anything like that.

Where to Get It

Digital streaming: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal — all of them have the full album. YouTube also has individual track uploads from the official channel if you just want to listen without a subscription. Physical copies: The original CD is out of print. You can find used copies on Discogs and eBay. Vinyl pressings surfaced later — there's a standard black vinyl and a limited red colored vinyl. Prices on Discogs run anywhere from $20 to $60 depending on the pressing and condition. I got a used black vinyl for about $25 in decent shape. Bandcamp: They used to have it on Rise Records' Bandcamp, but availability fluctuates with label deals. Check if it's still listed there — sometimes reissues pop up.

Download concerns: I've never personally downloaded this from an unofficial source, but I can tell you this — anything offering free MP3 downloads of Rise Records catalog is either sketchy or stolen. The audio quality will be whatever the uploader decided to rip, and you're funding nobody. Not worth the risk for something this widely available on legitimate platforms.

The Track Listing

1. By The Teeth Of My Skin
2. The Great Dismal
3. Hollow
4. Dead Weight
5. My Last Goodbye
6. Sleepwalk
7. The Plot
8. Requiem Track one is the title track and honestly the most aggressive thing on there. "Hollow" and "Dead Weight" are the ones people seem to gravitate toward most. "Requiem" closes the album and is the longest track at nearly seven minutes — gives you a sense of where the band was heading before they broke up.

What You Should Know Before Listening

One thing that trips people up: this album came out right as the scene was pivoting hard toward more electronic and pop-infused sounds in the mid-2010s. The Plot In You didn't follow that. They stayed rooted in the heavier, more technical side of metalcore. If you're coming from their later work or from bands like Underoath's later period, this might sound jarringly raw by comparison. Also — and I don't say this to gatekeep — this album is essentially the end of an era. After this, the band went through lineup changes, rebranded, and eventually became The Death of Me with a significantly different sound. If you start here, you're starting at the tail end. Go backward to their earlier EPs and albums if you want the fuller arc. The vocal range of Mike Hranica (lead singer) on this record is worth noting separately. He's doing a lot of mid-range barks and screams that require actual breath control. Not the high-pitched shriek some of the scene went for. It's a more grounded, almost conversational approach to harsh vocals that fits these songs better than it would on something more aggressive.

One practical thing I ran into: the Spotify version and the CD version have slightly different mastering levels. The digital one is louder — about 1.5 dB higher on average. If you're comparing them side by side at the same volume, the CD sounds less fatiguing over a full listen. Not a dealbreaker, but something to be aware of if you're picky about that. That's it. It's an album. You stream it, you buy a copy, you listen to it. Nothing complicated, though I'll admit the band's history makes it a bit of a footnote for most people who don't already care about this corner of the genre.