Spiritbox were making waves even before they released an album. Their breakthrough track, 2020’s Holy Roller, mixed clanging tech metal, explosive choruses and thrumming electronica with the crushing breakdowns so beloved of the metalcore scene they emerged from, inspiring a raft of imitators. The following year, debut album Eternal Blue expanded upon those sounds, adding more styles to their repertoire; the title-track was a fine slab of modern prog metal, Hurt You had echoes of an early 2000s nu metal club banger, and We Live In A Strange World was electronic pop-adjacent.
Admittedly, in hindsight that stylistic variance didn’t always come together coherently. But the album’s standout moments – Hurt You, Silk In The Strings, Secret Garden, Circle With Me, Yellowjacket (featuring Sam Carter) – were of world-beating quality, under- pinned by vocalist Courtney LaPlante’s emotionally candid lyrics, which connected with audiences on a visceral level.
Four years, two EPs and a Megan Thee Stallion remix/collaboration later – yeah, we didn’t see those coming either – they’ve reached a new high. On Tsunami Sea, the riffs are tighter and the mosh- calls more bilious – Courtney’s snarl of ‘You all deserve each other!’ during Soft Spine is one of the most venomous the band have dropped to date. The electronic techniques used on older tracks such as We Live In A Strange World and Angel Eyes, which were expanded on throughout those EPs (Rotoscope and The Fear Of Fear), have been folded into the band’s core sound in a thrilling way, and are now deployed with a confidence that makes them a fully-fledged part of their toolkit.
Tsunami Sea contains both lyrical and musical throughlines that affirm it as Spiritbox’s most focused artistic statement to date. Even the title is perfectly chosen, reflecting the album’s conceptual edge. Whether it’s the crashing, calamitous riffs of opener Fata Morgana mimicking a destructive wave sweeping away all it touches, the oceanic depths of the melodies in the title-track, or the frequent, water-based lyrical metaphors used to explore the depression and anxiety Courtney has contended with, there’s a sense of continuity that ties even the most disparate tracks of Tsunami Sea together.
That doesn’t come at the cost of killer songs, either. From the concussive Black Rainbow to the trance-meets-metal mash-up of Crystal Roses and the gloomy low-end of Ride The Wave – a song that carries echoes of Korn and more balladic Slipknot fare like Vermilion – Spiritbox are still crafting massive anthems. Perfect Soul and Keep Sweet may tread close to modern metalcore staples such as Architects' Doomsday or While She Sleeps’ Silence Speaks, but Spiritbox’s canny ear for mixing elements in fresh new ways ensures the tracks are elevated beyond simple genre conventions.
Whether they will continue to influence wider trends across the metalcore and
alt metal landscape remains to be seen. But Tsunami Sea feels like the moment Spiritbox firmly step into their own as a band who could contend with the likes of Bring Me The Horizon and Sleep Token, as the next zeitgeist-setting act.
Tsunami Sea is out this Friday, March 7. Order Metal Hammer's Spiritbox issue to find out the story behind the album
