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Eternal Blue is the debut studio album by Canadian heavy metal band Spiritbox. It was released on September 17, 2021, through the band's own Pale Chord Records in partnership with Rise Records. Work began in 2018 and 2019 but was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed the album release initially slated for April 2020. Spiritbox relocated to Joshua Tree, California and completed the songwriting process, which Dan Braunstein and the band's guitarist Mike Stringer produced. The recording was finished in February 2021 by Braunstein. Eternal Blue proved an immediate chart success for the band, recording entries in seven countries. In advance of the record's release, five songs became singles: "Holy Roller", "Constance", "Circle With Me", "Secret Garden", and "Hurt You".

Background

Before co-founding Spiritbox, singer Courtney LaPlante and guitarist Mike Stringer were both in Iwrestledabearonce. In late 2015, they decided to quit the band. LaPlante and Stringer had each replaced a previous member of Iwrestledabearonce, and were never comfortable with that status in the band; the two also desired to pursue a new personal and creative direction. On October 9, 2017, the duo announced the launch of their new project named Spiritbox.

As Spiritbox, the couple released a seven-song self-titled debut extended play on October 27, 2017, preceded by the single "The Beauty of Suffering". Former Iwrestledabearonce bandmate Mikey Montgomery served as the band's first drummer to record the EP. The band was later joined by Bill Crook of the pop-punk band Living with Lions as bassist, and Shreddy Krueger drummer Ryan Loerke became the band's first permanent drummer. The band shared five singles which were eventually compiled into an EP titled Singles Collection on April 26, 2019, followed by the non-album singles "Rule of Nines" and "Blessed Be" in 2019 and 2020. Loerke would depart from Spiritbox in 2020, and was subsequently replaced by Philadelphia-based drummer Zev Rose. The band members met Rose only two days before the band began touring with him.

Composition

Spiritbox employed several heavy metal-based musical styles on Eternal Blue. Critics have identified the style on the album as metalcore, post-metal, and djent. The record was also labelled "post-metalcore". Near the release of the record, LaPlante herself defined the musical genre of Spiritbox as metalcore. The band's use of the digital synthesizer provided a unique sonic aspect to the album, and LaPlante makes use of both screaming and singing throughout the record.

Recording and release

The songwriting for Spiritbox's debut album started early, and most of the songs were written throughout 2018 and 2019. The album was initially scheduled for an April 2020 release; however, the process was interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The band then paused to assess the situation in the world and decided to release the single "Holy Roller" in the meantime.

Spiritbox first found critical and commercial success with "Holy Roller" in July 2020. It debuted at No. 25 on Billboard Hot Hard Rock Songs. The song's original version spent seven weeks as No. 1 on Sirius XM Liquid Metal's Devil's Dozen, and was deemed the best song of 2020 by the station's listeners. In September 2020, Spiritbox announced that they had signed with Rise Records, as part of the label's partnership with Pale Chord Records. The band subsequently released a remix of "Holy Roller" in October, which featured Ryo Kinoshita of Crystal Lake. The "Holy Roller" remix version spent five weeks as No. 2 on Sirius XM Liquid Metal's Devil's Dozen. The band started pre-production on the album with their producer Dan Braunstein via Zoom. In December 2020, Spiritbox debuted "Constance"; that same month, a Kerrang! reader's poll voted Spiritbox as "Best New Band".

Eventually, the band reconvened in Joshua Tree, California, to continue working in "their own bubble" over a five-month period. By January 2021, Revolver had dubbed Spiritbox's upcoming full-length release as one of its "60 Most Anticipated Albums of 2021". The band set a deadline of April 2021 to finish work on the album so it could be released by the end of 2021. The album was produced by Braunstein and the band guitarist, Mike Stringer. It was recorded by Braunstein along with the band in Joshua Tree at an Airbnb in complete isolation. Eternal Blue was recorded over a period of three weeks in February, and the process was finished by the beginning March.

Track listing

Personnel

• 2021 debut albums
• Heavy metal albums by Canadian artists