Soft Spine The sophomore album from Spiritbox, Tsunami Sea, is an absolute monster. The new record comes hot off the heels of 2023’s EP The Fear of Fear, and the much-buzzed about debut LP Eternal Blue, and two consecutive Grammy nominations for Best Metal Performance. The new album was co-produced by Spiritbox’s Mike Stringer and Dan Braunstein, and early on you get the vibe that the band is out for world domination, and they just may achieve their goal. From the opening visceral one-two punch of “Fata Morgana” and “Black Rainbow”, Spiritbox reinvent what it means to make a metal album today, and have filled the void with a record that demands to wash over anyone who takes the time to listen to it. Lead vocalist Courtney LaPlante can confidently go from the most punishing of screams to a softer croon with ease as she showcases why she is one of the most talented front women in today’s music scene. Spiritbox have improved vastly upon their sound that combines melodic metal, metalcore, electronica, and EDM into a massive package that will do nothing to dissuade others from joining the bandwagon.
Melodic moments found on tracks like “Perfect Soul” cement Spiritbox in the upper echelon of artists willing to take creative risks to further their goals. LaPlante carefully lays out her headspace as she sings, “Sharpen your knife upon the stone / Cover me up before you go / So delicate the orchids grow / Buried under melted snow / So I call out your name and let it die slow / I pray that the rain will wash me up / So obvious I can’t let go / Carried in the ebb and flow,” before going into another crowd-pleasing chorus. It’s a solid reminder that this band is capable of doing all parts of the metal genre in an ultra-unique way.
”Keep Sweet” sets the musical landscape with some great guitar playing by Mike Stringer, before a cool programmed beat starts in the verse that fades away into a punishing chorus accentuated by the heavy-hitting percussion of Zev Rosenberg. Bassist and backing vocalist Josh Gilbert lays out an impressive underlying riff on the song that provides a great canvas for LaPlante to sing over passionately. Lead single, “Soft Spine” is a punishing reminder of what this band is capable of when they’re firing on all creative cylinders. The track was first released last September, and it showcases the improvements in the band’s already dynamic approach to songwriting. The chorus of, “Soft spine / Ascending up to meet my / Eyes wide / I am a witness to your / Regicide / The dissolution of your / Soft spine / You all deserve each other,” is a scathing response to a person not worth your time. LaPlante even adds in the backhanded lyric of “Your god will sort you when you die” to further make her point here.
For every relentless song like “Soft Spine”, the LP offers a nice balance like what is found on the gorgeous title track that features some picturesque vocals and lyrics from LaPlante. Look no further than the second verse of, “Hours, I could lay here for hours / The bed of a forest I can petrify / Through broken waves that leave us blind / If I stay here, you’ll wash away like a landslide / You bleed into every color that my mind can conceive / You only love the ideation of me,” that weaves a tangled web of emotions through well-constructed lyrics that will have a lasting impact on the audience. “A Haven With Two Faces” follows the great title track and opens up Side B of the LP by setting the stage for the epic conclusion of the Spiritbox’s most fully realized artistic statement to date. Lyrics from the chorus of “I hope you still have a hideaway for me / Under the mountain, floating on the sea / Swear I saw an island there / Washed away by a temporary stream / I hope it still flows back to me,” match brilliantly with the concept of Tsunami Sea, and it remains a standout moment in the set as a whole.
”No Loss, No Love” gets back to the mostly screamed vocals from LaPlante and the band’s ability to convey the raw emotion from these screams cannot be understated in its importance. The song even features some EDM, and almost NIN-esque breakdowns in between the choruses to lean heavily into the band’s key influences. “Crystal Roses” sets the musical path ahead with the sound of waves crashing in the distance and the flow of water in between a frenetic beat that LaPlante softly sings over to set the stage for the key song. The pre-chorus of, “For an echo of an echo flowing nowhere / Buried in a message somewhere out there” really stuck with me for some reason, and it only speaks to the lasting power of Spiritbox’s music.
”Ride The Wave” is one of my favorite songs of this year, as it tugs directly on the heartstrings of the listener in a different way than most metal power ballads could or should. The vulnerability in LaPlante’s vocals draws the listener in closer to her lyrics, while the mysterious vibe of the instruments adds just the right amount of ambiguity to the track. The album closer of “Deep End” feels a bit like a victory lap after all of the great material that preceded it. The final lyrics of “Wind on the current / Carried the wrong way / Down in the deep end / Lost in my own waves” sets the right heading for where Spiritbox can move their sound next. The possibilities are limitless given the insane amount of ground covered on Tsunami Sea. Unlike most monsters, this record actually invites the audience deeper into the depths of their sea and washes over the listener to cleanse out the feelings of despair that they may be experiencing in today’s world. And that is why Spiritbox deserves all of the accolades that are sure to come with this cohesive artistic statement that transcends what a metal album “should” sound like in 2025.