Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Spiritbox's Tsunami Sea arrives as a bold, often brilliant expansion of the band's sonic palette, and critics largely agree it represents ambitious growth. Across five professional reviews the record earned an 87/100 consensus score, with reviewers singling out hook-forward standouts such as “Perfect Soul”, “Soft Spine”, “Deep End” and the fan-favored “A Haven With Two Faces” as the album's clearest victories. Those best songs on Tsunami Sea are praised for marrying melodic clarity to moments of real ferocity, making the collection both memorable and immediate.
The critical consensus emphasizes genre fusion and experimentation as the album's defining traits. Critics note textured electronics and oceanic imagery woven through tracks like “Tsunami Sea” and “Black Rainbow”, and many reviewers commend the band's tighter focus and diversification of sound compared with earlier work. Praise centers on how Spiritbox balance brutality and melody: Courtney LaPlante's soaring clean vocals on “Perfect Soul” and the jagged intensity of “Soft Spine” emerge repeatedly in professional reviews as examples of that balance.
Not all assessments are unreservedly positive, and reviewers voice recurring production criticisms - compression and occasional over-polish are said to blunt some of the record's heavier moments, with songs such as “Crystal Roses” and “No Loss, No Love” marked as less successful experiments. Still, the prevailing narrative frames Tsunami Sea as a focused, ambitious record that advances Spiritbox's reach: critics consistently call it a noteworthy, often essential listen for anyone following modern metal's inventive edge.
Below, the full reviews unpack where the album's refinement enhances impact and where restraint undercuts rawness, offering the detailed context behind the 87/100 consensus across five professional reviews.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
A Haven With Two Faces
1 mention
"Best song on the album."— Sputnikmusic
No specific track - general praise
1 mention
"a near-perfect collection of accessible heavy music"— New Musical Express (NME)
Soft Spine
3 mentions
"Soft Spine is a jagged boulder of invective hurled at the fakes and sickos in her industry"— The Guardian
Best song on the album.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Fata Morgana
Black Rainbow
Perfect Soul
Keep Sweet
Soft Spine
Tsunami Sea
A Haven With Two Faces
No Loss, No Love
Crystal Roses
Ride The Wave
Deep End
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 6 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Spiritbox make their case on Tsunami Sea with songs that swing between towering aggression and pop-slick hooks, and the review points squarely to two best tracks: “Soft Spine” and “Perfect Soul”. The writer praises “Soft Spine” as a "jagged boulder of invective" and celebrates “Perfect Soul” as soulful, reflective hard rock, both serving as the album's clearest victories. There is admiration too for opener “Fata Morgana” as an apocalyptic showpiece, even as some experiments like “Crystal Roses” and “No Loss, No Love” are flagged as less successful. Overall the best songs on Tsunami Sea are singled out for striking balances of ferocity and melody rather than cautious compromise.
Key Points
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The best song, "Soft Spine", succeeds because of its jagged invective and punkish, screamed chorus that crystallizes the album's fury.
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The album's core strengths are bold genre-mixing and striking vocal contrasts between throat-shredding aggression and melodic croons.
Themes
Ke
Critic's Take
There are moments on Tsunami Sea where Spiritbox trade the surprise of their debut for something more deliberately polished, yet no less feral. James Hickie hears the band lean into fuller arrangements and diversification, and it is tracks like “Tsunami Sea” and “Black Rainbow” that best showcase this crafted impact. The record lacks the out-of-the-blue brilliance of Eternal Blue, but the listening experience here is built to perfection, with touches that deepen without veering off into novelty. In short, the best songs on Tsunami Sea are those that balance refinement with ferocity, delivering the album's most memorable moments.
Key Points
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The title track best encapsulates the album's fuller, more feral, and carefully crafted impact.
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The album's core strengths are deliberate production, diversification of sound, and balancing refinement with ferocity.
Themes
Critic's Take
In a vivid appraisal that reads like admiration more than critique, Spiritbox's Tsunami Sea is praised for its blend of brute force and melodic grace. The review elevates “Deep End” as an album highlight and points to “Black Rainbow” and “No Loss, No Love” as unfathomably heavy cuts, while noting how “Perfect Soul” lets Courtney LaPlante's clean vocals soar. The writer's tone is confident and emphatic, positioning these best songs on Tsunami Sea as exemplars of modern metal's inventive pulse. Overall, the narrative frames the best tracks as distinct personalities within a near-perfect collection that balances emotional clarity with punishing elegance.
Key Points
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“Deep End” is the best song because the reviewer calls it an album highlight that soars with deep emotional resonance.
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The album’s core strengths are its fusion of punishing heaviness and vivid melodic clarity, plus inventive electronics and consistent water-themed imagery.
Themes
Cl
Critic's Take
In a voice that swaps bracing observation for vivid metaphor, Spiritbox’s Tsunami Sea stakes its claim with songs like “Soft Spine” and “Crystal Roses” as two of the album's best tracks, where venomous snarls and trance-meets-metal production collide. The reviewer hears tighter riffs and more bilious mosh-calls across the record, calling out “Black Rainbow” as concussive and the title-track “Tsunami Sea” for its oceanic melodies - together these best tracks show how the band have folded electronics into their core sound. This is presented as Spiritbox’s most focused artistic statement to date, with standout moments elevated beyond genre staples and a continuity that makes the best songs on Tsunami Sea land as fully realised anthems.
Key Points
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Soft Spine is best for its venomous vocal delivery and concentrated aggression that exemplify the album's tightened riffs.
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The album's core strengths are its thematic cohesion, confident electronic integration, and focused songwriting that elevates standout moments.
Themes
Critic's Take
Spiritbox return with Tsunami Sea, and the reviewer's ear lands squarely on a few standout songs - “Perfect Soul” and “A Haven With Two Faces” emerge as the album's best tracks because their hooks and vocal peaks refuse to leave your head. The author savors Courtney's soaring moments and calls “A Haven With Two Faces” the "Best song on the album," while praising “Perfect Soul” as a huge highlight that will "stay in my head for weeks." At the same time the narrative rails against overproduction and tired mainstream attempts that sink songs like “Crystal Roses” and dampen moments that should hit harder. Overall the reviewer frames Tsunami Sea as Eternal Blue revisited - familiar, occasionally thrilling, but often frustratingly safe.
Key Points
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The best song is "A Haven With Two Faces" because its vocals, weight and breakdown were singled out as the album's peak.
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The album's strengths are undeniable melodic hooks and Courtney's soaring vocals, offset by overproduction and repetitive, mainstream-leaning choices.