September gave us this lesser known Canadian band’s debut album, and it seemed to impress many 2021 lists. So the JAR decides to take a spin with Spiritbox. Check it out!

Now since this band was established in 2017 by the singer (Courtney LaPlante) and guitarist (Mike Stringer), they don’t exactly have a large catalog to pull from. I’m going into this review a bit more blind than usual because sometimes I like to see if hype is warranted.

Their info seems to say they mix a lot of different sub-genres of metal, so we’re about to learn together!

• Artist: Spiritbox
• Album: Eternal Blue
• Label: Rise
• Total Track Time: 43:12

Sun Killer the first few seconds definitely sounds like a fax machine recording through pro tools, but then when the vocals kick in they are haunting and very clear. The instrumentation is very open, we just have like the Djent down-tuned guitar and drum tone driving the general rhythm. But musically it’s mostly background noise with fantastic vocals until the chorus kicks in and the rest of the band culminates together before suddenly dropping out going back to the fax machine noise with whispered vocals of “Sun Killer, Sing Me To Sleep”. And they break the silence with Industrial Fear Factory or Twelve Foot Ninja instrumentation and screamed vocals repeating the same line that was whispered. Hurt You well this is different. I think the first song ended with male screamed vocals, but this opens with Courtney going into the screaming Djent approach with a clean chorus. This is a very…well – it’s a cool take on a toxic vindictive relationship song. I love the line” I hope you find what you’re fighting for – I am happier when I hurt you”, I thought I misheard it at first, but no…great line.

Yellowjacket (feat. Sam Carter) this has a very Sci Fi electronic vibe. The vocals are thrown through the mixer to sound robotic and faded into the music and who I’m assuming is Sam Carter, does the male vocal/duet aspect to this song. This is just extremely heavy even through the sprinkled in electro aspects. A lot of fret slides, blast beats and interesting drop-D twangy riffs. This feels like Mudvayne back when they didn’t suck. The Summit holy tone shift Batman, you go from a sludgy heavy banger to a stripped down almost acoustic sounding song. I hate drastic shifts. We go from the more Djent/Industrial sound to, what we have now, which sounds like Epica or Amaranthe. Where the song sounds…fine, I detest an illogical lack of transition. Secret Garden at least this song stays in the Epica color palate, so I can’t complain about tonal shifts. There is a very unique bass riff throughout the song though which adds to the…let’s call it ethereal vibe the song gives off. I could compare it a bit to Deftones just with lyrics more akin to introspective personal growth.

Silk in the Strings again with the fret slides, scream/growled vocals and more of the Industrial/Djent heavy vibe. Not nearly as heavy as Yellowjacket, but coming off of the previous two songs, this feels a little much. I will admit the rhythm section is dialed in here, the bass and drum really drive this song and give it a very palpable groove, but this should’ve been after Yellowjacket, with Secret Garden and The Summit following from there. The lack of consistency in the song tones is a bit annoying since the song is pretty damn good, but it feels jarring being so out of place. Holy Roller now this would’ve been a great transitional song between the slow and heavy. The bridge is a little electronic voice talking about blood into wine and typical Christian symbols. With the verses and chorus being screamed and pretty damn heavy with the blast beats. So there’s enough cute in this song to not feel out of place. Eternal Blue so the imagery is quite beautiful with using the water analogies for what seems to be anxiety or depression. It’s a gorgeous song, very atmospheric where everything compliments the lyrics and the imagery perfectly. The instrumentation is heavy enough to not stick out like other ones, and the song is so fantastic on its own merits that as much as I want to complain about its place on the album…I can’t bring myself to take away from this song.

We Live in a Strange World continuing the atmospheric beauty of the last song with a bit more of an electronic edge. This sounds like a song that Adam Lambert or Billie Eilish would do before the heavier guitars finally enter on the second usage of the chorus. Halcyon so for those who don’t know and don’t use Google, Halcyon is an ideal period of time. Comfort, happiness, implicit perfection, and this song starts off very hopeful and driving. Lyrically seems to be about a desire to lead to a halcyon life. Utilizing a lot of imagery about being brittle and self-conscious we get a flourish at the end with more screamed vocals and the heavy Djent instrumentation almost as if she’s trying to will herself to happiness come hell or high water. Very unique approach. Circle With Me hits a lot like an Evans Blue or The Birthday Massacre song where it stays in the imagery of anxiety and feeling the weight of the martyr. We finally hit a screamed super heavy bridge that incorporates the circle with me words, and it could be a cool call to the mosh pit. Not a bad song if not a little incomplete and redundant. Constance is a strong song about loss. The one line of “memories dissident” is a nice way to layer meaning in two words. Could be about just generally forgetting someone eventually after you lose them, or even dementia since the phrase memories dissident means that memories are effectively in opposition. So that’s a lot of depth from just two words and since this is the last song it definitely ends things with that dark atmospheric vibe. Maybe a little too depressing for some people, but it’s at least true to the album having this looming darkness.

I’m a little personally conflicted. Eleven of the twelve songs are really good, but that weird middle section of awkward tone shifting hurt my general opinion of the album on a whole. Eternal Blue is still a fantastic…arguably nearly perfect song.  I suppose I can see why this landed so high on so many different metal album lists, however; when the band themselves admit the album has dark and atmospheric tones, that means consistency is important.

With all that said, I can’t tank the rating just because the track placement was awkward to me when the music and structure were generally masterful. Only other marginally negative thing I can say is that the album felt like 2 different bands at times. The lighter songs sound more like Epica and The Birthday Massacre had a baby, whereas the heavy stuff is more Mudvayne or Twelve Foot Ninja with female vocals. I’m rambling now, so pretty damn good album, a few hiccups I dislike, but not enough to drop this anywhere near bad.

Final Judgment: 7.9/10