Something crawled through the cellar door
The Fear of Fear
by Spiritbox
The year of our Lord 2020 was, well, a real shit show, as we all well know. The impacts of the pandemic were incredibly far reaching, and touched us all in so many ways.
One of the many things impacted by the pandemic was entertainment. Things were delayed, changed, and in some cases, outright cancelled. Hell, the pandemic even lead to some bands just outright calling it and ending (Anathema, you will always be missed).
But, right in the middle of that world-wide nightmare, a little band called Spiritbox dropped a single from what would become their first full-length album, and "Holy Roller" took the metal world by storm.
I was one of those taken in by the song. Big time.
I had first found out about Spiritbox a few years earlier. The band was recommended by KMAC on YouTube, and knowing he loved TesseracT, a band I love as well, I figured I should give the band a listen. I did, and enjoyed their debut, self-titled EP, but it didn't stick with me. I didn't find myself coming back to it, over and over again, as I do with some music. It sat there, in my music library, primarily unnoticed.
Until that day in 2020.
"Holy Roller" was, unequivocally, Spiritbox's heaviest release to that time. And for some reason, that heaviness just grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go. I dove back down into the Spiritbox rabbit hole, checking out their previous collection of singles as well as more recent releases "Rule of Nines" and "Blessed Be" and loved all of them. But "Holy Roller" was the one that kept me coming back again and again.
I became a huge fan of the band, and started supporting them on Patreon. They were small at the time, and trying to do everything they could to make it through the difficulties of being a small band during a global pandemic. Their album Eternal Blue followed in 2021, and their momentum just kept building.
Eventually they grew bigger than to need Patreon, and to their credit, they shut it down, making sure people weren't being charged monthly when the band didn't need to rely on that anymore. But with that growth in popularity, for some reason, I found my interest starting to fade a bit. Since Eternal Blue, they have release a few more singles. I have listened to them all, but just haven't been as interested in the band or their work.
Until yesterday.
With an upcoming EP on the horizon, Spiritbox had released two tracks from it already. Newest track, "Cellar Door" dropped Friday, and I dutifully added it to my library in Apple Music. The good and bad of that is the ease with which things can be added also means it is easy to forget them. But, I was at work, doing surgery, and needed something to listen to. We hit play on the EP, and since "Cellar Door" is the first track, it launched right into the song.
Uh, wow. I mean, really.
The track kicked in and I had to just pause, turn to the speaker, and listen for a bit. I thought "Holy Roller" was heavy. This was more. Just, well, more. Faster, meatier, more groove, completely harsh vocals the entire time ("Holy Roller" was mostly harsh, but has some little moments of not harsh vocals with a vocoder like effect on them). This was Spiritbox at their most aggressive, most heavy. And then the breakdown hit. Holy. Shit.
And just like that, I was back in, going back and listening to those singles that had released in the years since Eternal Blue and finding I had a new appreciation for them. Spiritbox was knocking down the door, and I was ready to let them in.
I've been thinking over the last 24 hours why that might be. I truly do love much of Spiritbox's more atmospheric and melodic work. It isn't that I just crave the heavy. But I think that, perhaps, when they are at their heaviest, that is when I find them the most interesting. It feels like they are stretching just a bit to get to that degree of heavy, and I like that. I love when bands push themselves a little bit and get into territory that is just a bit outside their norm. Sometimes it doesn't work, but sometimes it really, really does.
And Spiritbox just being super heavy really works. It activates a part of my brain that then craves more of their sound and sensibilities. It tees me up to be more open to whatever they choose to do. And now, I am pumped for more Spiritbox.
Something ugly crawled through the cellar door, and it has its hooks in me.