Spiritbox - 'Tsunami Sea' - Album Review

BACKGROUND. You don't often see bands approaching their sophomore releases as global juggernauts, but here we are with the one striking contemporsry exception. Spiritbox have claimed the scene's top spot and manage to keep it for quite some time now with a series of outstanding single and EP drops, clever collaborations and iconic live shows. Throw in a few Grammy nomanations too, and we are naturally looking at one of this generation's greatest metal acts, and metalcore's favourite children, entering 2025 with the confidence and attitude appropriate for their incredibly important second album Tsunami Sea.

BAND. It hasn't even been a decade since that self-titled EP from 2017 set the stage for one of the biggest debuts just few years later. Eternal Blue (2021) was an overnight succes, immediately and deservedly propelling Spiritbox into metal's top echalon, where they set up their base of operation for the future. On Rotoscope (2022) and The Fear of Fear (2023) we saw them evolve and mature with a symbollic journey through sonic realms with varying degrees of heaviness, lyricism and experimentation. The final destiation remained blurry even after several killer promo singles came out, and now Tsunami Sea comes out with a fittingly crushing power to push us even further into the unknown.

ALBUM. A proper sophomore release crafted with meticulous attention to detail, Tsunami Sea builds on the themes explored in Eternal Blue with striking determination and cleaner monochrome aesthetic. Bigger and bolder in just about every aspect, the new record hits much harder when furious, but also soars higher when calm, both complimentary states underlined with pristine production and pin-point instrumentation. You would struggle to find many jaw-dropping moments, but in the last 5 years we have been spoiled by Spiritbox to always expect the impossible, so we are to appreciate a certain degree of predictability and familiarity with Tsunami Sea operating comfortably and faultlessly within the established comfort zone.

SONGS. An uncontrollable whirlwind of symbolism, Tsunami Sea flirts with genre fluidity, further accentuated by all prevalent water and ocean references. Fitting to the elusive stylistic direction and conventions exlored throughout, the LP switches emotions and moods without a warning, diving in headfirst with 'Fata Morgana' and the intense 'Black Rainbow' before emerging for a desperate gasp of air with 'Perfect Soul' and 'Keep Sweet'. The two promo singles 'Soft Spine' and 'No Loss, No Love' remain standout pit-starters, flourished with the mezmerizingly volatile 'A Heaven With Two Faces' and 'Ride The Wave', all extremes counterbalanced with the aethereal 'Crystal Roses' and 'Deep End'.

FUTURE. All in all, Tsunami Sea raises more questions than it answers. Spiritbox have reached allar point in their career pretty much in one determined restless sprint , hinting at future potential as early as 2017 but really starting in 2020 and reaching a grand conclusion in 2025. However, even the greatest need time to regroup and refresh, and now that they have occupied the peak of the modern metal world, the creeping uncertainty is whether they will settle down to inevitable repetition and mediocrity, or challenge themselves again for a second and longer sprint towards a much higher peak. A peak that would ultimately see them cross genre boundaries and enter the hall of the music greats (pissing off gatekeepers in the process) as scene leaders rather than mere followers.

Spiritbox - 'Tsunami Sea'

Country: Canada

Relased: 7 March

Label: Pale Chord / Rise Records

Tracklisting:

1. Fata Morgana

2. Black Rainbow

3. Perfect Soul

4. Keep Sweet

5. Soft Spine

6. Taunami Sea

7. A Heaven With Two Faces

8. No Loss, No Love

9. Crystal Roses

10. Ride The Wave

11. Deep End