Review Summary: Back into the sea but the tide isn't coming in
Hello djentlemen. Here we are again. Spiritbox has dropped their highly anticipated followup to their critically acclaimed album Eternal Blue. In honour of Trackbytrackreviews (god rest her soul, did she die?) I’m bringing back track by track reviews. I know they’re not respected. I don’t care. I like them. I like reading them. I’m sure there will be plenty of “real” reviews shortly. The target audience for this review are the five people who JUST listened to this and want to vent about their first impressions. Does Tsunami Sea live up to the hype? Let’s find out! Track by track!!!1
1 - Fata Morgana
We start heavy which is not shocking. This almost feels like a spiritual sequel to Cellar Door from the previous EP. Courtney’s soaring vocals are absolutely heavenly during the chorus contrasting with the down-tuned assault during the verses. The bridge comes out of absolutely nowhere, which is jarring— but it still works and the final breakdown is just crushing. 7.5/10
2 - Black Rainbow
I’m not sure how I feel about Courtney’s robotic vocals here but this hearkens back to Yellowjacket from Eternal Blue which is really cool. Other than that, this is kind of a mid song. Parts of this beat your ass purple and some of the breakbeat inserts work well but this song is weak. 6/10
3 - Perfect Soul
This track really leans into the melodic side and is surprisingly upbeat, which is a direction I don’t usually care for, but the hooks here are undeniable. Nothing new here but I’ll sing this in the shower. A beautiful song, not quite as amazing as Trustfall from The Singles Collection, but a very deft stab at mainstream appeal that will stay in my head for weeks. This might actually be my favourite song on the entire album. 9.5/10
4 - Keep Sweet
This might be a grower — the album just dropped — but this track does nothing for me. It’s another attempt at mainstream appeal. it reminds me of Blessed Be or Secret Garden during parts but nowhere near as good. We’re on auto-pilot, we’ve been here before and the hooks are not emotional enough. Disappointing. 5/10
5 - Soft Spine
This track caught a lot of flack for being Holy Roller-lite but in hindsight I actually really like this one; It’s just dumb fun. Bounce your head. Shove somebody. Punch a puppy. Maybe not that last part. It goes very hard. I imagine this will be a gym staple. Courtney is just seething and the bridge & slowed down riff at the end are filthy. 8/10
6 - Tsunami Sea
This title track is a mirror of the one on Eternal Blue. We’re diving into deep blue waters with huge waves of sound and Courtney at her most melodic. It feels like a re-tread of songs they’ve made before, but the hooks are undeniable. No huge breakdown this time but Courtney delivers the emotion in spades. 8/10
7 - A Haven With Two Faces
Now we’re getting somewhere… This feels like a sequel to Trustfall from The Singles Collection which is a very good thing. It doesn’t quite hit those heights but it’s definitely the most exciting track on the album even though it picks up right where the last one left off. It’s still leaning heavily into Courtney’s breath-taking clean vocals but the weight and emotion are turned up to 11. And god, that breakdown… Best song on the album. 10/10
8 - No Loss, No Love
What is there to say? This one is just very, very pissed. Spiritbox is attempting to push the boundaries of their ability to be heavy again; between the disturbing video, the creepy spoken-word breaks and Mike’s pitch-shifted slides this almost feels like an Acacia Strain track. It’s grown on me. I like it more than Holy Roller. 8.5/10
9 - Crystal Roses
Whiplash —we’re back to shooting for mainstream-appeal. This feels like an overproduced pop song, almost like We Live In A Strange World pt 2, but nowhere near as good unfortunately. Honestly, this may be the worst song they’ve ever made. I will not be returning to this one often. I’d be embarrassed to show someone this. 2/10
10 - Ride The Wave
This is a good song, but the overproduction is REALLY starting to hurt at this point. This one redeems itself partially with a really creepy bridge-section coupled with a caustic breakdown. The melodic chorus is good as well, just the overly-clean production… Makes me weirdly miss the Iwrestledabearonce days. 6/10
11 - Deep End
And we’re at the end.
We end on a predictably melodic note, a way Spiritbox typically likes to end their releases, but nowhere NEAR as an emotional one as Constance from Eternal Blue. The band feels oddly on auto-pilot here. It TRIES to hit those emotional strings —and it has some lines that hit (“lost in my own waves…”), but it feels too clean and overproduced, and like we’ve been here before.
It’s still a Spiritbox closer, so it’s going to hit like a truck, but I felt slightly let down. 8/10
After two listens I’m both unsurprised and slightly shocked by this album. In most ways this is what I expected; Eternal Blue pt 2 but edgier. That’s basically what this was, but less memorable, and the clumsy attempts at mainstream appeal felt pretty wonky other than Perfect Soul which was a huge highlight. It may grow on me with time, but this feels like the weakest Spiritbox release yet without a doubt. It definitely has its moments, but there’s practically nothing new here, we are running on a treadmill. We’ve been here before many times and we must get them AWAY from producer Dan Braunstein as far as humanly possible. He’s taking the band in the wrong direction.
I wish the band would return to their more progressive and rawer roots but it seems like Spiritbox are on a fixed path. My expectations for this were high, I was left disappointed but there WERE a few tracks that will absolutely stay in my rotation. I’m feeling a light to strong 7/10 for this album.
This band has meant a lot to me over the years but at this point Rolo Tomassi’s last effort (or several other recent albums that shoot for a similar vibe) obliterate this. Everything here feels wildly familiar, yet oddly inconsistent and underwhelming at the same time.
Tran—
—sition!
Have you given this LP a listen? Did you love it? Did you hate it? What would you rate it? You’re the best you’re the best! Leave your comments down below.
