Spiritbox

Vancouver quartet Spiritbox crafts an atmospheric strain of melodic alternative metal shaped by '90s influences and laced with elements from multiple genres, striking vocals, and occasional EVP field recordings suggestive of the paranormal. Their approach, reminiscent of TesseracT, Deftones, and Evanescence, weaves metalcore, nu-metal, prog, shoegaze, and djent into a sound that pits crushing heaviness against ethereal textures, with Courtney LaPlante shifting fluidly between luminous melodies and anguished screams. The group originated in 2016 when LaPlante and guitarist Michael Stringer, married partners who had exited the experimental metalcore band Iwrestledabearonce, sought to build something deeply personal after resuming ordinary routines. Bassist Bill Crook and drummer Zev Rose completed the lineup, and former Iwrestledabearonce manager Jason Mageau backed them by founding Pale Chord, which later aligned with Rise Records to issue their output.

Spiritbox's self-titled debut EP arrived in 2017 and drew broad praise, followed by a Singles Collection in 2019. Nearly a year of pandemic-related delays interrupted work on their first full-length, during which their catalog quietly amassed millions of streams and underground momentum built. Eternal Blue surfaced in September 2021; at that point the band had performed just 15 concerts yet claimed the summit of the U.S. Rock charts while landing at number 13 on the Billboard 200. The album, rooted in LaPlante's ongoing battle with depression, appeared alongside the three-song Rotoscope EP in 2022, when Spiritbox also supported Mastodon and Ghost on the second North American portion of the latter's Imperatour. Bill Crook departed later that year and was succeeded by Josh Gilbert, bassist from As I Lay Dying's touring lineup. (Bill Crook died on July 24, 2024.)

In 2023 the quartet headlined its first U.S. tour and released the Fear of Fear EP, which featured “The Void” and “Jaded,” the latter earning a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance. That November they joined forces with Megan Thee Stallion on a heated remix of her track “Cobra.”