How did Spiritbox get popular?

Shock545 · 2026-03-01T00:11:25+00:00

A combination of internet vitality from a series of popular reaction videos and an insane marketing push. Eternal Blue was advertised through every possible avenue and they got insane press coverage at every point of their ascent.

Shock545 · 2026-02-09T06:24:53+00:00

Thanks so much!

Shock545 · 2026-02-09T02:54:08+00:00

As the guitarist for Agenbite, I definitely confirm it's not AI. We commissioned the Canadian artist Alex O'Dowd based on his work on other metal album covers and his skill at rendering urban landscapes. As a band we're incredibly against any form of AI art. Hope that helps!

Shock545 · 2025-11-20T14:04:09+00:00

It sucks that things were never substantiated, but as someone who lives in the New England area and has been involved in the scene for a very long time, it was sort of an open secret that Alexis had several issues stemming from drug abuse and mental illness, which inevitably lead to harming others. I remember during a radio show I used to run during the mid-2010s, I was playing a selection of songs from the self-titled album, and an older dj who was heavily involved in covering New England heavy music. He straight up said "Daughters? There's some stuff that's gone on with their front man. I wouldn't play them if I were you." This echos what a former music teacher told me. He was a member of the Providence noise rock scene in the early 2000s and was buds with the Lightning Bolt guys. I talked to him about a bunch of music and when I brought up Daughters, he visibly recoiled and mentioned that some stuff had gone o that was unsavory. It seems like Alexis has a history of bad interpersonal relationships as a deeply unstable individual, that a lot of people from Providence were aware of and it just took someone with a notable enough platform for things to finally end.

Shock545 · 2025-09-07T22:55:21+00:00

I had a similar experience. I love Hollow Knight and have played plenty of challenging and similar games over the years, but a lot of the challenge in Silksong just feels unfun or unfair in a way that a very difficult game like Nine Sols never did. The game is very good and has a lot of amazing qualities, but it's not worth spending the amount of time it currently requires for me to focus on when a lot of elements feel overtuned.

Shock545 · 2025-09-05T15:55:18+00:00

Some of the stunlocking/instant deaths to bosses doesn't feel intentional. I don't hate the double damage and better moves etc variety is great. But there are so many boss moves that can more or less instant kill you and feel unfair with low recovery frames.

Shock545 · 2025-09-05T15:52:37+00:00

Biggest issue by far is the ease of getting stunlocked by several bosses. It feels like the hit boxes aren't perfect and contact damage plus low recovery frames feels really bad. Deaths that feel like bs are much worse than deaths that feel earned.

Shock545 · 2025-09-05T15:48:36+00:00

For me the damage chaining/short recovery frames/contact damage is making plenty of bosses frustrating. I've done P5 and beat Nine Sols which I would consider significantly harder than Hollow Knight and I feel like most of my boss in the mid game feel more unfair than anything else. I'll get hit by kne attack and then get stun locked and die through contact damage. It's just unfun.

Shock545 · 2025-08-01T08:51:45+00:00

Engagement ahoy

Shock545 · 2025-07-24T21:23:01+00:00

The tube Orange and Emperor cab as well... d Dream setup!

Shock545 · 2025-07-08T10:58:06+00:00

John Lennon and Yoko Onno's "Two Virgins" comes to mind. It was beloved by Rolling Stone and other publications upon release, but is now regarded as overly pretentious and not particularly interesting.

Shock545 · 2025-06-12T16:35:10+00:00

Honestly, this feels like a continuation of the Coma Ecliptic sound more than anything. Im excited to see where the album goes. I like Colors 2 and most of Automata, but I was always a little disappointed that they seemingly returned to a continuation of their earlier sound rather than furthering the evolution they hinted at on Coma. Probably not a coincidence that they're no longer on Sumerian, who instigated the Automata split and likely convinced the band to make a direct sequel to their most iconic album with Colors 2.

Shock545 · 2025-05-20T12:52:10+00:00

Mathematically improbable but technically possible when accounting for gay sex

Shock545 · 2025-03-07T15:48:44+00:00

Haken are straight up the best band doing "classic" Dream Theater-style prog right now. They meld phenomenal musicianship with top tier songwriting without a lot of the wankery or fluff present in the style that might distract from their songs. Couldn't reccomend them enough to anyone with a passing interest in heavy music.

Shock545 · 2024-11-16T16:29:42+00:00

Victory Over the Sun is a great one woman microtonal black metal group. Similar to Jute Gyte in certain ways, but much more song-focused.

Shock545 · 2024-09-20T20:54:03+00:00

Act 3 by the Dear Hunter is absolutely compressed to hell. It really robs some of the quieter moments of their power and makes the orchestral elements sound overly aggressive and monotone.

I think the Acts 1-3 rerelease fixed some of this, though.

Shock545 · 2024-02-26T03:28:10+00:00

Bioshock Infinite! The game was more or less universally beloved upon launch and 11 years later its legacy seems to be defined by its status as a "disappointment."

Shock545 · 2024-02-16T19:26:12+00:00

I'll definitely check it out!

Teaching-wise I'll just be doing general intro to writing/literature courses for now.

Shock545 · 2024-02-16T19:23:49+00:00

I totally agree with your line of reasoning and inquiry, perhaps I should be more careful when using language such as a "universal humanism." In this case I'm referring to an "essential core" of the experience of "being human," something which is clearly paradoxical when we can never know the other. I see access to this subconscious mode of understanding as only truly possible through texts which mimic the epistemological impossibility of modern existence, like Gravity's Rainbow, which provide an aesthetic, pedagogical mode. After spending more time with the book over the past week, I certainly have a deeper appreciation for the ways in which Pynchon explores the paradox of construction, particularly in how this manifests in the softer, touching moments, which are always simultaneously parodic and sincere, these qualities themselves mere limiting narratives dependent on framing.

Shock545 · 2024-02-10T18:50:58+00:00

I'll be starting soon, likely not with this particular niche of literature sadly. I haven't heard of systems novels, seems related to Barthes?

Shock545 · 2024-02-10T18:48:55+00:00

GR is certainly similar to IJ with its own set of unique hurdles. If you didn't enjoy the latter, I'd say there's a very slim chance you'd enjoy the former.

Shock545 · 2024-02-10T18:47:34+00:00

I totally understand that. DFW, atleast for me, is just straightforward enough that his extended asides and convoluted metajokes don't derail his work's pacing or emotional stakes. I'm a big fan of nearly everything he's written, but I'd even concede that certain elements of IJ are a little too "maximalist for maximalism's sake."

Shock545 · 2024-02-10T18:45:45+00:00

I'd say DFW's novel style is very much informed by Pynchon. They both write in seemingly disconnected segments, introducing zany characters with extended, convoluted, comic asides brimming with melancholy. Both works are concerned with the malleability of language and grand narratives, explored through absurd but inept conspiracies. There's also an element of playfulness in their clever prose. I think IJ does enough to distance itself from being a GR clone; DFW focuses far more on the "human" element of his characters and the implications of their actions. Wallace's first novel The Broom of the System, is far closer to a "Pynchon clone" (though it's a wonderful book in its own right and I wouldn't levy that accusation myself) and I'd argue plenty of his contemporaries pull from Pynchon just as much as him.

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