The Fear of Fear Review

Band	Spiritbox
Album	The Fear of Fear
Type	EP
Released	October 27, 2023
Labels	Pale Chord
Ranked	#90 for 2023 , #4,706 all-time

Reviewer :  Cosmicism         Rating :  70 / 100

This EP is lazy, uninspired, and messily over-produced. It's a big disappointment from a band that is supposed to be good according to the music industry, but probably about 300 metal releases were better than this in 2023.

The clean vocals get annoying, and the harsh vocals are pretty good, but the lyrics are sophomoric uneducated amateurish whatever. The softer not-so-metal parts sound like Dance Gavin Dance but minus all the emotion. The breakdowns are mid-tier, but that's supposed to be your specialty as a metalcore band, right? Dwarrowdelf had better breakdowns on his recent album, and that's not even his genre.

Also, if the singer is any good, then why are there so many effects and filters on her voice? People whined about effects on Ozzy Osbourne's voice on his 2022 album, but what's the age difference between Ozzy & Courtney? The stupidest choice by Spiritbox here was all of the overproduced synths & sound effects and electronica in the background. All that garbage is just tacked on without being integrated into the songs. They make an obvious effort to rip off the soundscape of NIИ's Downward Spiral. Wow, Spiritbox, you have street cred now. Was it even a band member or just some apathetic record label employee who added those sounds.

I guess the part that works best is the verses of the heavier songs when there aren't breakdowns, but overall this EP is a mess and it sounds like nobody cared about producing good music or even taking the time to focus their thoughts. It's not terrible but it's not good.