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In just four years, Spiritbox have gone from playing the 800-capacity O2 Academy in Islington to headlining the UK's biggest arena. Granted, Manchester's Co-Op Live isn't being used to its full capacity - curtains cover the upper decks and the room is maybe half-open, but the Canadians have managed to speedrun a progression that took Sleep Token six years - seven if we're talking full arena tours - Ghost nine years and Bring Me The Horizon a decade.
It's also their first real test as potential torchbearers for metal's future. With a supporting line-up of hot, rising acts, Spiritbox have at least avoided the pipeline of dragging out legacy bands to bolster bigger tours. You'd need to get in early if you hoped to see openers Dying Wish, but as the clock ticks towards 8pm Jinjer are greeted by a full floor.
Back in 2019, the Ukrainians seemingly couldn't play anywhere without being greeted by big SOLD OUT signs across the board, so their jump up to arena-sized stages has been a long time coming. But their biggest obstacle comes in translating their technical, acrobatic prog metal to bigger rooms. Perennial arrives with all the ferocity and violence of a Great White ram-raiding a seal, while Call Me A Symbol offers an apocalyptic death metal bluster. But there's also a distinct lack of big hooks, and impressive as Tatiana Shmayluk's range is - her voice rapidly switching between off-kilter melodies and throaty snarls - there's few moments for the crowd to roar along in rapturous release.
With limited production, Jinjer are still adjusting to the space they're playing. The rest of the band's all-black ensemble means they often seem to disappear into the background and while it sets a stark contrast against Tatiana's all-silver get-up that lends her the air of a rampaging crusader, it means they also feel lacking in presence. Still, the set picks up nicely in its second half, I Speak Astronomy earning an excitable pit, while Judgement & Punishment chucks up some careening force. But it's still breakthrough single Pisces that feels like the centrepiece of the set, its swinging dynamics bringing to mind the impressive sonic dexterity of Opeth.
From their incendiary Download Festival debut to the massive Alexandra Palace gig that tied a bow on their Eternal Blue era, it's been obvious Spiritbox are eyeing up the upper echelons of the metal world. The Tsunami Sea tour could well be the crucial stepping stone to getting them to the top. It's not a flawless transition, mind.
Silhouetted behind a giant curtain, there's a nice sense of drama to how Spiritbox arrive to the stage, Courtney's shimmying form projected as a colossal figure before the curtain drops and they kick out an impressively furious one-two of Fata Morgana and Black Rainbow. Intense as those tracks are, it feels like the band only fully arrive with Perfect Soul, the pay-off of having a big anthem helping to boost the energy in the room, Keep Sweet keeping that joyous spirit going and Soft Spine is introduced with an almighty roar of "You all deserve each other!", streamers blasted out over the crowd as the riff drops.
It's not quite Parkway Drive or Sabaton, but things like that, the shimmering light show and a bubble machine that sprays for Tsunami Sea add nice little touches to the set that show Spiritbox are thinking about how they want to enhance their live shows.
By their own admission, the biggest obstacle is working out their sequencing. These shows feel almost like a send-off for Tsunami Sea to clear the path for what comes next. While it's definitely great to hear so much of the album - eight of the record's eleven tracks - it feels like some obvious massive tunes from their debut - Hurt You, Secret Garden - could've served the big room well.
It becomes most obvious towards the end of the set. Introducing the next track, Courtney acknowledges that Holy Roller was the song that changed everything for Spiritbox. But rather than being the big finish, it and Circle With Me arrive as something of a premature climax - a powerful one-two, but also an all-too early peak with four more songs to go. We spot a few bodies making a tactical early exit - it is a school night, after all - and while there's seldom a good spot for a drum solo in the set, the fact it comes so late in the game just adds to the weird, post-orgasmic lull.
There's still a couple of highlights. Crystal Roses goes full trance to the point we're half-expecting Maxi Jazz (RIP) to drop a bar, and new single Mourning yields some Deftones-like crashing waves. But its obvious that Spiritbox need something bigger to really bring everything back home again.
In many ways though, that's a great problem to have: anecdotally, Metallica wrote The Black Album after realising the more complex arrangements of Justice For All didn't work in the massive rooms they were playing, and Ghost came up with Square Hammer to give them a big, orgiastic conclusion. If this is what Spiritbox can do without that big, all-conquering anthem, just imagine what they'll do next.
