Vancover Island-based progressive metal outfit Spiritbox has become a band to watch out for this year. ‘Holy Roller’ really caught everyone’s attention, getting them radio airplay in multiple countries; this included Jose Mangin’s Sirius XM show Liquid Metal and Daniel P. Carter’s rock show on BBC Radio One. The band has now dropped another song ‘Constance’ along with a new music video.
Musically, ‘Constance’ is a world away from ‘Holy Roller’. Eschewing crushingly heavy riffs and screamed vocals for huge lush chords and ambience more akin to a Deftones track, Courtney LaPlante uses her incredible melodic vocals to paint a beautiful yet melancholic picture the whole way through. The chorus is absolutely massive and, while it’s not really a heavy track, the post-chorus riff and ending slowdown bring some of that heaviness we’ve come to know from Spiritbox.
The real focus, however, is with the video. You might want to prepare yourself before you watch this one; it’s a video that tackles a very difficult subject. Through starkly beautiful cinematography, we see the story of an old woman losing her memories due to dementia. She struggles to remember how to do normal things, struggles to remember her family and finally struggles to remember herself. Her family starts to become seriously affected too. Arguments break out, multiple family members become visibly depressed. We see them struggle to come to terms with everything, knowing that she’ll never be the woman she once was.
If, like myself, you’ve lost a family member to dementia recently, you’re probably going to cry. That’s OK. How dementia affects families is a subject that’s talked about too little. Spiritbox being brave enough to show such a beautiful yet honest depiction of the effects of the disease is something we need right now.
Words by Robert Percy
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