Spiritbox - The Fear of Fear (2023)^{Release ID: 48376}

Spiritbox is one of the most popular bands in modern metal. They made it big with their string of singles throughout the era of the pandemic and the album those songs would appear in, Eternal Blue. I remember listening to that album when it first came out, and I enjoyed the heavy technicality and spacey melody. For some reason though, the appeal didn't last long for me. Must be due to the more mainstream alt-ish sound, but at least it's enough for my brother to enjoy a couple of those songs.

In between that album and their new one Tsunami Sea, the band released two EPs. The one I've chosen to check out is this one, The Fear of Fear. It has definitely sparked up some memories of when I listened to Eternal Blue, being a solid continuation of that album's alt-metalcore sound with a few industrial/cyber/nu metal vibes thrown in...

To open this offering, "Cellar Door" has some of the heaviest I've heard from the band. Glitchy electronics and nu-infused guitar guide you through this violent chaos complete with crushing breakdowns. The second track and fellow single "Jaded" has the technicality and emotion of Architects while blending it with the softer side of Eternal Blue. "Too Close / Too Late" has a gentle drift of beauty, especially in the chorus.

"Angel Eyes" brings back the monstrous destruction. The textured bass by Josh Gilbert (ex-As I Lay Dying) are adjacent to djenty guitar intensity along with the harsh vocal fury of vocalist Courtney LaPlante. In "The Void", the band knows just how to hit with all their power! The beautiful emotion carries on in the closing "Ultraviolet".

To summarize the sound of this band and EP, well...it's all about experimenting with what they are without setting a strict sound. This allows them to break boundaries at ease, and make the band more than just simply alt-metalcore. It's not a direct sequel to Eternal Blue, more like an expansion of that album's sound in a way that makes this EP stand out with its own. So let's ride on for a glimpse of what to hear from this rising band....

Favorites: "Cellar Door", "Angel Eyes", "The Void"

Spiritbox wax never going to be iwrestledabearonce. Hell, even IWABO wasn't IWABO by the time Courtney LaPlante and Mike Stringer joined the group for 2015's Hail Mary. So in a way, watching Spiritbox go from progressive metal from the debut EP with songs like "The Mara Effect" and transform into this more pop centric sound isn't surprising.

When I listened to Eternal Blue, I did enjoy the direction the band was taking, but also felt far too much like a grab bag of modern metalcore trends rather than sounding like Spiritbox. And on this new album, I can confidently say that nothing has changed.

This little EP comes packaged with three decent made for radio alternative metalcore songs with "The Void", "Ultraviolet" and "Too Close / Too Late", two heavy bangers that will please the breakdown reaction video makers with "Cellar Door" and "Angel Eyes". And then there is "Jaded", which is the kind of hybrid that "Circle With Me" wishes it could be; a very solid track and likely the best on the EP.

As individual songs, I do think that The Fear of Fear is pretty good. Every song feels like a completed idea and Spiritbox know their sound and creative limits so as to not detract from the EP's strengths. As a whole however, Spiritbox are still stuck in creative limbo trying to appeal to as wide a audience as possible with as many differing timbres and styles that honestly don't fit as well together as I would have liked.

This can be extremely dangerous for a band since it can spread their audience quite thin. I think that on an EP like The Fear of Fear is one of the best places to play around with this because of the length, as opposed to a full length LP. But, since Spiritbox are doing this again following the debut full length, maybe this is the residual mist being left behind from the IWABO days that Spiritbox wants to maintain. And I'm not sure it's going to work the best for them in the future.

Best Songs: Jaded, Cellar Door, Ultraviolet