ALBUM REVIEW: Eternal Blue – Spiritbox
Hype can be a double-edged sword for many a band. Fail to deliver on the promise set upon you, it can kill you before you truly have laid down your claim to stardom. It has ruined many a promising star in the making, but, if you deliver the goods, it can jettison you to the stratosphere and beyond. Ever since Canadian trio SPIRITBOX stunned our world when Holy Roller dropped in the days of lockdown last year, attention has been firmly cemented to what comes next. Subsequent singles have kept the hype train rolling forwards but now, the time has come. Debut full-length album Eternal Blue has arrived and with the weight of the mightiest expectations on their shoulders, it’s judgement day for SPIRITBOX.
Wasting no time in laying down the gauntlet, Eternal Blue kicks off in explosive fashion and goes for the throat right from the off as a triple whammy of Sun Killer, Hurt You and Yellowjacket blow the hinges off the door and leaves you floored. Sun Killer‘s cyberpunk-inspired electronics dance menacingly with the thumping riffs, Hurt You bounces from hefty riffing from Mike Stringer whilst LaPlante‘s piercing screams cut through the wall of noise like a hot knife through butter and Yellowjacket goes for the jugular as the band up the ante to the max; with the guest spot from ARCHITECTS‘ Sam Carter adding a new level of firepower to the band’s already explosive arsenal. With Yellowjacket in particular, the song is SPIRITBOX at their most anthemic and it is simply exhilarating.
As explosive as the opening foray is, SPIRITBOX are not a one-dimensional band. Just as the singles released thus far demonstrated, the band are far more genre and musically fluid than the obtuse heaviness would have you thinking and that is in fact the biggest strength of Eternal Blue. Walking a tight rope between melodic fragility and unrelenting heaviness is no easy feat but the ease in which SPIRITBOX showcase this not only in the individual songs but over the course of the album’s runtime is utterly magnificent. Dynamic and keeping you guessing at every turn, whether it’s the up-tempo frenzy of the groove-laden Silk In The Strings or the jaw-dropping epic that is the title-track which blends the dense riffs with a gorgeous vocal display from LaPlante, the musical melting pot that is the SPIRITBOX soundscape is as vibrant as it is immersive.
Album finale Constance is placed perfectly as an emotionally heavy and tear-jerking finale to a musical masterpiece following the ever-excellent Circle With Me while Secret Garden sounds better and better with every listen as LaPlante‘s stunning vocal deliveries in the chorus and the intricate musical technicality of her bandmates wash over you effortlessly. Holly Roller (the song that announced SPIRITBOX to the world and took the internet by storm) is positioned in the finest position to truly ignite the album’s second half and then there is We Live In A Strange World. Featuring the band divulging into pop sensibility, LaPlante‘s gorgeous vocal deliveries and a lyrical focus that has even greater weight given the events of the past 18 months, the track shimmers with poignant fragility before unfolding into a finale that soars thanks a combination of Stringer‘s powerful riffing and LaPlante at the top of her game.
When we spoke to Courtney LaPlante, she told us that “everything that I’ve done in my life, every mistake I’ve made and everything I’ve done right has all led up to September 17th.” Well, the wait has been worth it. Eternal Blue is a masterpiece of modern heavy music; a record that twists and turns and sits long in your memory and warrants listen after listen. Not only does Eternal Blue live up to the immense hype but it exceeds it entirely. Heavy music has a new face and it belongs to SPIRITBOX.
Rating: 10/10
Eternal Blue is set for release on September 17th via Rise Records.
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