Spiritbox

Vancouver quartet Spiritbox ply a ’90s-influenced brand of melodic alternative metal featuring multiple genre elements, beautiful vocals, and possible paranormal EVP (electronic voice phenomena) field recordings. Echoing acts like TesseracT, Deftones, and Evanescence, their sound — incorporating elements of metalcore, nu-metal, prog, shoegaze, and djent — combines crushing heaviness with atmospheric ethereality, while Courtney LaPlante’s versatile voice swoops from gorgeous melodicism to tortured screams and shrieks. Spiritbox issued their eponymous debut EP in 2017 to wide acclaim. Their debut album, the chart-topping Eternal Blue, was released in September 2021.
Spiritbox was formed in 2016 by the core husband-and-wife duo of Courtney LaPlante (vocals) and Michael Stringer (guitar) after they had jointly decided to quit their former band, the experimental metalcore outfit Iwrestledabearonce. Returning to the normalcy of everyday life, they focused on their passion: to create music that was original and from the heart. The band became complete with the addition of bassist Bill Crook and drummer Zev Rose. They were championed by IWABO’s manager Jason Mageau, who ultimately started his own label, Pale Chord, to release their music; the label went on to partner with Rise Records. Spiritbox released their eponymous debut EP in 2017 to wide acclaim. A Singles Collection followed in 2019.
Work on the group’s debut full-length was halted for almost a year by the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing underground attention to swell as their music racked up millions of streams. When the album came out in September 2021, Spiritbox, who had played only 15 live shows, were suddenly at the top of the charts. Eternal Blue, heavily inspired by LaPlante’s lifelong struggles with depression, debuted at number one on the U.S. Rock charts and entered the Billboard 200 at number 13. ~ John D. Buchanan