By the 2010s, the style was bogged down in a tried, tested, and tired formula of verse-breakdown-chorus-breakdown; the 20s saw the emergence of a wave of new metalcore that was leaner, chorus-driven, and more willing to lean on poppier sensibilities.<\/p>\n
Canadian-based quartet Spiritbox were at the forefront of this exciting new wave; emerging from the ashes of mathcore weirdos iwrestledabearonce, husband and wife duo Mike Stringer (guitar) and Courtney LaPlante (vocals) founded the project in 2017.<\/p>\n
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For its first couple of years, the band existed as a mostly online entity; however, as momentum was building, lockdowns struck. It was from the depths of isolation in June 2020 that the band released the chart-topping single \u201cHoly Roller\u201d, and the subsequent downtime allowed it to assemble the final pieces for debut LP Eternal Blue, released in 2021 and hailed as a modern classic.<\/p>\n
In less than half a decade, Spiritbox had gone from semi-viral bedroom moshers to arena-fillers \u2013 changing the lives of its four members beyond recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a place of reflection now,\u201d says Stringer, speaking to us from a hotel room in Frankfurt in the middle of the band\u2019s arena tour across Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lot of material for (first album) Eternal Blue \u2013 I had years to bank a lot of stuff \u2013 but because of that, my relationship with that album was almost too intense because it was just our lives for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it came out, not only was there this online machine hyping the record so much when we didn\u2019t even have the proper capacity to go and do it live, which then led to all this expectation and stress and pressure\u2026 I was obviously very fulfilled and relieved that the record went the way that it did, but I decided I wanted to then do the polar opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n
That \u2018opposite\u2019 was follow-up album Tsunami Sea (2025), an uglier and heavier endeavour which still somehow managed to sound tailor-made for stadiums, in keeping with Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Bring Me The Horizon.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoing that album really scared me \u2019cause like\u2026 every band\u2019s second album, especially if you do have a big debut, is so important,\u201d Stringer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately it came down to trusting our gut and deciding \u2018we need to put out something cathartic and something for ourselves\u2019, \u200aand if people identify with it and they can hear where we\u2019re coming from with it, and especially if they can see a part of themselves in it, then mission accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n
In keeping with the modern trend of constant content, since first emerging with Holy Roller, there\u2019s never been a defined period of silence for Spiritbox.<\/p>\n
After Eternal Blue came the Rotoscope EP (2022), followed by The Fear of Fear EP (2023).<\/p>\n
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With the addition of a scattering of feature appearances on singles \u2013 including a \u2018rock remix\u2019 of Megan Thee Stallion\u2019s \u201cCobra\u201d \u2013 the Spiritbox machine appears to constantly be churning out material.<\/p>\n
The latest offering was the September standalone single \u201cMourning\u201d, a radio-ready rock anthem showcasing their melodic side. However, there\u2019s no indication (yet) that the song is the first fruits of a new body of work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a brand new one \u2013 it was just a song we felt really compelled to do,\u201d Stringer said, adding that the song reminded him of the reliability of a good old six-string guitar.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aI\u2019ve been playing within the same sort of like range and using the same seven-string instrumentation, and it just dawned on me after I was messing around that \u2018Oh, actually six strings are cool, and Drop C# is cool!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a reason why when I was a kid I used to love all this stuff; it was really born from wanting to move everything in a new direction, but not really knowing where that\u2019s gonna go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of the band existing for so long\u2026 we only put out stuff that we\u2019re compelled to put out. \u200aIt\u2019s not anything that\u2019s a master plan. There\u2019s no strategy. For me, it was always stuck in my head, and Courtney really wanted to move forward with it because she wanted to write something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to overuse this, but because Tsunami Sea was so just angry and pissed off on many, many levels, I feel like \u201cMourning\u201d is kind of the answer to that\u2026 it\u2019s extremely heavy, but in an accepting kind of way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of where we\u2019re at with our mindsets right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australian fans will get their first chance to see Spiritbox since 2023 when they arrive down under in December as part of the stacked Good Things Festival.<\/p>\n
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When they first toured here with Knotfest in 2023, they were a buzz band in the scene; now, they\u2019ll return as leaders of the new(est) wave of metal taking the world by storm.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u201cTo come back on this scale and to be playing these slots, it\u2019s really surreal,\u201d Stringer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just always, always wanted to come back, but it\u2019s unfortunately not made sense in the last little while until this came about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely over the moon about it, \u2019cause like, what a way to come back!\u201d
\u201cThe only hard thing is freight costs; I would normally be showing up with a full set up of four guitar amp rigs and cabs and pedals\u2026 but I think we\u2019re gonna do something a little more conservative, and I\u2019m gonna tone-match everything that I have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll have all the tones digitally dialled within my Fractal, and I\u2019m still gonna have a smaller board, because I need it to play a couple of our songs like \u201cSoft Spine\u201d \u2013 \u200aif I don\u2019t have the [Earthquaker Devices] Rainbow Machine pedal I physically can\u2019t play that song.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be a little more conservative, but it will sound like our usual selves thankfully.\u201d<\/p>\n