Spiritbox were making waves even before they released an album. Their breakthrough track, 2020’s Holy Roller, mixed clanging tech metal, explosive choruses and thrumming electronica with the crushing breakdowns so beloved of the metalcore scene they emerged from, inspiring a raft of imitators. The following year, debut album Eternal Blue expanded upon those sounds, adding more styles to their repertoire; the title-track was a fine slab of modern prog metal, Hurt You had echoes of an early 2000s nu metal club banger, and We Live In A Strange World was electronic pop-adjacent.
Admittedly, in hindsight that stylistic variance didn’t always come together coherently. But the album’s standout moments – Hurt You, Silk In The Strings, Secret Garden, Circle With Me, Yellowjacket (featuring Sam Carter) – were of world-beating quality, under- pinned by vocalist Courtney LaPlante’s emotionally candid lyrics, which connected with audiences on a visceral level.
