SpiritboxBand Guide
Founded 2017 · Victoria, British Columbia · Metalcore / Progressive Metal
Spiritbox are the fastest-rising band in modern metal — a Canadian quartet built around Courtney LaPlante's extraordinary vocal range, capable of whispered intimacy and full-force aggression in the same song, over technically uncompromising metalcore arrangements that have earned a mainstream crossover without any compromise of the music. This is the complete guide.
Who Are Spiritbox?
Spiritbox are a metalcore band from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, founded in 2017 by vocalist Courtney LaPlante and guitarist Mike Stringer. In the short time since their formation they have become one of the most discussed and most commercially successful new acts in modern metal — a position achieved through a combination of Courtney LaPlante's genuinely extraordinary vocal range, Mike Stringer's technically accomplished and atmospherically sophisticated guitar work, and a willingness to explore melodic and electronic territory that more rigidly genre-defined metalcore bands avoid.
The band's rise was significantly accelerated by the release of Holy Roller in 2020 — a standalone single that circulated rapidly online and introduced the band's core proposition to an audience well beyond the metalcore scene: Courtney LaPlante's voice moving between clean, ethereal singing and full-force aggressive screaming in a way that is technically exceptional and emotionally compelling simultaneously. The debut full-length Eternal Blue (2021) followed and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart, cementing the band's position as one of the most significant acts in modern heavy music.
Start with Holy Roller — the song that introduced most people to the band and the clearest single statement of what Courtney LaPlante's voice can do. Then Eternal Blue (2021) as a complete album, then The Fear of Fear (2023).
Courtney LaPlante — The Voice
Courtney LaPlante is the central creative force of Spiritbox and one of the most technically accomplished vocalists in modern metal. Her range encompasses clean singing of genuine melodic beauty — warm, controlled, capable of precise intonation at high register — and aggressive screaming of full technical competence, and crucially she transitions between these registers within songs, within verses, sometimes within single phrases, with a naturalness that makes the contrast feel musically motivated rather than demonstrative.
She was previously vocalist of I Prevail's support circuit and other projects before Spiritbox, but the band represents the fullest realisation of her capability. Her public presence — direct, thoughtful, engaged with the community and willing to discuss the technical and personal dimensions of her work — has contributed significantly to Spiritbox's relationship with their audience, which has a quality of investment unusual even in a genre whose fanbase tends to be deeply committed.
LaPlante has spoken publicly about the personal content of the lyrics — many of which address mental health, anxiety and the specific experience of navigating creative success while managing internal difficulty. This transparency has made Spiritbox's music connect with audiences who recognise the emotional specificity of the content rather than treating the heavy music as purely formal.
Band Members
Band History
Discography
The Spiritbox Sound
Spiritbox's sound is built on dynamic contrast — the specific tension between LaPlante's clean vocal register (atmospheric, controlled, genuinely melodic) and her aggressive register (full-force, technically accomplished screaming), deployed within a single song in a way that gives each mode more impact through the presence of the other. The quiet sections are quieter because the heavy sections are heavier; the heavy sections are heavier because the quiet sections have established something worth destroying.
Mike Stringer's production approach gives the arrangements a textural depth that most metalcore bands — produced more conventionally to maximise clarity and punch — don't achieve. Electronic elements, atmospheric pads and careful use of space make the Spiritbox sound distinctive in a genre that can trend toward uniformity. The result is a band that is immediately identifiable and that sits at the intersection of several genre communities — metalcore, progressive metal, alternative metal — without fully belonging to any of them.