REVIEW: Spiritbox Embraces the Extreme and the Serene on ‘Tsunami Sea’ Album
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
FROM THE MOMENT SPIRITBOX CRASHED ONTO THE SCENE – they have defied convention. Their 2021 debut, Eternal Blue was a seismic shift in modern metal, a testament to their ability to blend the ethereal with the extreme. Now, with Tsunami Sea, their long-awaited sophomore release, Spiritbox doesn’t just build on that foundation; they shatter expectations entirely. This album is a storm—an unstoppable surge of artistry, emotion, and raw power, pushing their sound into uncharted waters.
At its heart, Tsunami Sea is the sound of a band fully embracing who they are. It’s a reckoning with the past, a reflection on their rapid rise, and an assertion of their future. Spiritbox has spent years balancing on the razor’s edge between haunting beauty and unrelenting aggression, but here, they interlace both elements together with more precision and emotional depth than ever before. Every note, every breath, every scream and whisper feels deliberate—like a tide pulling listeners into something deeper, darker, and more expansive than anything they’ve done before.
Lyrically, Tsunami Sea explores themes of personal evolution, resilience, and the struggle to find balance amid chaos. The album feels deeply introspective, offering a glimpse into the band’s journey as they navigate the expectations and pressures that come with their rapid ascent.
Guitarist Mike Stringer’s riffs crash like waves—fluid yet crushing—while Zev Rosenberg’s drums thunder beneath them, grounding the chaos with precision. Josh Gilbert’s bass and backing vocals add depth and weight, locking in the rhythm with a melodic edge.
And then there’s frontwoman Courtney LaPlante, whose voice remains one of the most dynamic and captivating forces in metal today. She shifts effortlessly from delicate, ghostly melodies to visceral, gut-wrenching screams, embodying the album’s core theme: the collision of tranquility and turmoil.
Spiritbox wastes no time plunging listeners into the depths of Tsunami Sea, with “Fata Morgana” serving as the album’s powerful initiation. The track opens with brooding, heavy guitars. As the tension builds, LaPlante’s voice becomes the guiding force, seamlessly shifting between raw, visceral screams and ethereal, otherworldly melodies.
LaPlante’s ability to oscillate between sheer ferocity and delicate vulnerability is on full display during the chorus where she delivers the haunting lines: “Fate is a mirage / Hold me up till the morning / Await in phenomenon / Let it go without warning.”
“Black Rainbow” hits hard with a full-force, sonic punch. The track builds an atmosphere that is as intense as it is intricate, layering rich textures that feel haunting and ominous. From the outset, the song grabs the listener with its expansive, powerful sound that ebbs and flows with forceful precision. Its bridge contains a haunting affirmation of self that’s bound to leave an impression. The mantra, “dissolve, displace, rejoice, repeat,” resonates with a sense of both tension and release.
“Perfect Soul” stands as the strongest melodic cut from Tsunami Sea, managing to strike a delicate balance between soulful introspection and the deeply dark spirit that pervades the album. LaPlante’s performance here is particularly striking. Her clean vocals soar with a raw vulnerability, creating a striking contrast against the technical, metal-driven instrumentation. The clever use of multitracking allows her voice to linger in the listener’s ear, capturing the complex emotions tied to the song’s subject: the gulf between public and private perceptions.
The bone-crushing track “Soft Spine” emerges as the undeniable standout on Tsunami Sea, conveying everything Spiritbox is celebrated for. The track is an assault on the senses, driven by brutal, guttural vocals from LaPlante that are as fierce as they are commanding. Her intensity creates an unshakable presence that seeps through the second half of the album.
Water, in its many forms—whether as a mirage, a looming danger, or an internal flood—becomes a symbol for deep emotional currents in Tsunami Sea. The recurring references to water create a haunting undercurrent throughout the work, where vast, treacherous bodies of water serve as visceral metaphors for internal turmoil, pain, and the struggle to stay afloat in the face of overwhelming emotions. The album’s opening track, “Fata Morgana,” draws directly from this watery theme with its title, referencing the oceanic mirage that distorts reality. In “No Loss, No Love,” the imagery of water reaches an even darker, more sinister tone.
LaPlante displays an even greater sense of control over her voice in title track “Tsunami Sea.” One moment, her screams are ear-splitting and intense, pulling the listener into a chaotic, cathartic frenzy. The next, she shifts seamlessly into ethereal melodies, delivering vulnerability and beauty with haunting precision. LaPlante sings with a sense of desperate longing and self-awareness in the lines: “You hold your breath for someone I'll never be / Out of my depth, you got me dreaming but I know how deep it goes / And so I turn all my tears into a tsunami sea / Tumultuous down to the bottom where I know how deep it goes.”
“No Loss, No Love” stands out as a genre-defying anthem, where the brutality of metalcore collides with an almost otherworldly electronic sheen, creating something that feels both primal and futuristic. The song also ties into Tsunami Sea’s overarching water imagery, reinforcing themes of inevitability and transformation. The line “I was born in an estuary destined to the sea” captures the idea of being pulled toward something vast and uncontrollable.
Chasmic, brutal screams cut through pounding drums and aggressive, churning guitars, making the track one of the heaviest moments on the album. The rhythm section drives the song with a relentless energy, while the layered production gives it a vast, immersive quality.
“Deep End” serves as the dramatic and fitting closer to Tsunami Sea, bringing the album’s emotional and sonic journey to a breathtaking conclusion. After an intense ride through crashing waves of brutality and beauty, the final track feels like a descent into the abyss—both a resolution and an unraveling.
Spiritbox has always thrived on contrast—beauty and brutality, chaos and clarity. With Tsunami Sea, they’ve honed that balance to perfection. This isn’t just their most daring work yet; it’s their most honest. It’s the sound of a band no longer trying to prove themselves but simply being themselves. If Eternal Blue was their arrival, Tsunami Sea is their ascension—a record that doesn’t just ride the wave of modern metal but becomes the force that shapes it.
