Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTUrj9hzlcc&pp=ygUXc3Bpcml0Ym94IGJsYWNrIHJhaW5ib3c%3D
Spiritbox returns with their second album of progressive djent alt metal pop mayhem with a slightly industrial twist here and there.
More metal reviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP4CSgl7K7orAG2zKtoJKnTt_bAnLwTXo
===================================
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Videos edited by Jeremy and Anthony
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FAV TRACKS: BLACK RAINBOW, SOFT SPINE, NO LOSS, NO LOVE, RIDE THE WAVE
LEAST FAV TRACK: KEEP SWEET
SPIRITBOX - TSUNAMI SEA / 2025 / ALTERNATIVE METAL, METALCORE, DJENT, INDUSTRIAL METAL / RISE RECORDS, PALE CHORD MUSIC
6/10
Y'all know this is just my opinion, right?
Spiritbox returns with their second album of progressive djent alt metal pop mayhem with a slightly industrial twist here and there.
More metal reviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP4CSgl7K7orAG2zKtoJKnTt_bAnLwTXo
===================================
Subscribe: http://bit.ly/1pBqGCN
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theneedledrop
Official site: http://theneedledrop.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/theneedledrop
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afantano
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theneedletok
TND Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theneedledrop
Videos edited by Jeremy and Anthony
===================================
FAV TRACKS: BLACK RAINBOW, SOFT SPINE, NO LOSS, NO LOVE, RIDE THE WAVE
LEAST FAV TRACK: KEEP SWEET
SPIRITBOX - TSUNAMI SEA / 2025 / ALTERNATIVE METAL, METALCORE, DJENT, INDUSTRIAL METAL / RISE RECORDS, PALE CHORD MUSIC
6/10
Y'all know this is just my opinion, right?
Kategorie
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NewsTranskript
00:00Hi everyone, CutiePatootie here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of the new Spiritboxx album Tsunami Sea.
00:11Here we have the second full-length LP from Canadian crossover metal powerhouse Spiritboxx.
00:18A band that in several short years has really grown to be one of the most widely appreciated and respected out there on the current day loud rock circuit.
00:26And they have supporters in some of the most surprising places.
00:30I mean millions of fans from across the music fandom spectrum.
00:35You also had that recent Grammy nomination for Cellar Door being in the best metal performance category.
00:40Megan Thee Stallion called on the band not just for like a rock style remix of one of her recent singles Cobra, but the band also appeared on another recent song with her, TYG.
00:51And goth queen singer songwriter extraordinaire Chelsea Wolfe recently covered one of the band's songs on a new kind of stripped back EP she put out too.
01:01And that's just a few examples of the band's versatile appeal, which isn't too hard to understand when you look at some of the basics.
01:09I mean that very punchy kind of progressive djent style riffage that the band still specializes in, there's a lot of cultural gas left in the tank with it these days.
01:20Also from soaring cleans to monstrous screams, frontwoman Courtney LaPlant brings to the band not just a decent amount of vocal variety, but some distinct character too.
01:30There's also real pop sensibility to how the band assembles their songs as well, and that manifests in different ways.
01:38Be it through their ultra melodic hooks, very rigid and direct song structuring, and the occasional use as well of electronics and sequence beats.
01:47And where it comes from I can't 110% say, could just be out of a general appreciation for pop music, or most likely quite a bit of influence coming from past classic similarly mainstream metal acts that had a similar appeal like that of Deftones or Linkin Park.
02:05Also keep in mind the band's founding members Courtney and Mike Stringer are metalcore scene vets that have a history of doing things differently, given that they started this band after leaving the quite polarizing and experimental metal outfit I Wrestled a Bear Once,
02:22who during their heyday was known for pulling together elements of metalcore and grindcore and death metal and electro too.
02:29Spiritboxx by comparison though goes down a lot easier, is much more palatable.
02:35However, the more predictable elements of the band's sound and songwriting on this album, those are the spots where I felt like this album kind of grew the coldest for me.
02:46Take the opening track for example, which features those tight progressive metal riffs and very aggressive snarling guitar tones that I know currently trend well, and sound very loud and very aggressive coming out of something like laptop speakers.
03:01But hearing them pouring out of anything bigger or more large scale than that, in a very short period of time I just feel drained.
03:09Sadly, most of the guitars and riffs on this LP just don't do that much for me, and more often than not sound a lot like electrical interference or construction equipment malfunctioning, and not in a really cool, edgy, industrial sort of way either.
03:24And I'm even less enthused by the slow, sloshy, harmonious choruses that bust in, contrasting away from these more aggressive moments that feel, again, very Deftones influenced.
03:37But I feel like the core appeal of that sort of sound is that you really, truly do need an intense and passionate, clear, upfront lead vocal to really sell that sound.
03:48And yet, for whatever reason, Courtney's vocals are more buried in the mix on these parts than on the rest of the album, and touched up to the point where they sound like, uh, not a lead vocal, but more like a random synth layer just kind of thrown into the mix underneath everything else.
04:02And maybe I'm wrong, but listening to tracks on this album like Keep Sweet, or Crystal Roses, or the title track, for example, I don't remember this many vocal performances on the band's last album being this heavily processed.
04:15And I do feel like taking things in this direction, while it does lead to a sound that is cleaner, it does simultaneously take away from the moments where I feel like the band is really trying to deliver a more moving and intimate experience, like on The Closer.
04:28Yeah, just kind of leads to a sound and a vibe that is more sterile than it is human.
04:34But, yeah, the overall sound of this album, while it is blaring like a metal album should be, it doesn't feel consistently heavy as much as it feels persistently compressed.
04:45Because even the quieter, softer parts of the album sound intensely loud, too, which really kneecaps the dynamics of these songs and the overall experience of them, because those louder moments don't quite hit as hard when everything else on the album sounds almost just as loud.
05:04With that being said, though, there are some spots on this LP where the band is just firing on all cylinders, volume-wise, creatively, too, and I think these were the brightest moments on the album.
05:15Black Rainbow being a prime example, where the band is not just working in these eerie UFO-style synthesizers, kind of enveloping the guitars in them, but they have these very odd robot-style lead vocals, too, that make me feel like I'm listening to, I don't know, some kind of like mecha metal piece.
05:32The kick drums on this track are especially punchy, the screams are insane.
05:36And there are a few other moments on this record, too, that scratch a similar itch.
05:40Be that No Loss, No Love or Soft Spine, where the band is really going in, not just in terms of the intensity of the guitars and drums, but lyrically, too, with opening bars like,
05:51YOU ALL DESERVE EACH OTHER!
05:53And I hate the ones that love you.
05:55The writing on this track is just absolutely seething in that classic kind of metalcore way where you're setting up a target and just unloading the clip.
06:04Ride the Wave not only continues many of the album's lyrical themes of water and drowning and just kind of being, you know, immersed, being lost in water or some kind of water-type scenario.
06:17Being lost in or overtaken by something as large and as powerful as a body of water or waves.
06:24Again, consistent theme.
06:25But we do have some great, sinister opening guitar leads on this track, some tension-building verses that all lead up to this absolutely explosive bridge that makes for one of the best payoffs on the record.
06:35But yeah, to me, this record, sadly, was a little bit of a mixed bag, not quite what I was expecting it would be, despite enjoying at least a teaser or two.
06:45The best moments of the album feature some okay dynamics, some progressive, forward-thinking songwriting, as well as some creative genre fusions.
06:54Meanwhile, the worst moments just kind of hit like very formulaic current-day commercial metal with no natural feel to it, over-processed vocals.
07:03It essentially feels like a pop album with blaring guitars.
07:07And I get there are a lot of choices out there these days when it comes to that sort of vibe.
07:12And believe me, there are bands out there making, you know, similar music that you could do much worse than Spiritbox.
07:19Still, that doesn't really change that the production, much of the time, is punishing in ways that aren't exactly gratifying.
07:25That the band paints itself into a corner sonically pretty quickly over the course of this very trim 43-minute track list.
07:32And they don't really fully explore the full potential on this record.
07:37Between all the guitar tones, they could be pursuing the different combinations of metal and pop and electronic music, as well as, like, you know, fuller ranges of dynamics, loud and soft, so on and so forth.
07:50Which really would have made this the interesting and varied album it could have been.
07:54But instead, it feels more overly processed and one-note than it actually should.
07:59Which is why I'm feeling a strong 5 to about a light 6 on this thing.
08:03Transition, have you given this record a listen? Did you love it? Did you hate it?
08:07What would you rate it? You're the best, you're the best. What should I review next?
08:10Hit the like if you like. Please subscribe and please don't cry. Hit the bell as well.
08:14Over here next to my head is another video that you can check out. Hit that up or the link to subscribe to the channel.
08:18Anthony Fantano, Spiritbox, forever.