Welcome to the Boolin Tunes Staff Spotlight, a special segment on the site in which we dive deep into a classic or simply personally beloved album to shine a light on releases that we feel deserve a second glance.
I love Josh Travis’ music. I imagine that’s quite an obvious statement if you’ve read some of my previous work, given that I spent much of my recent review Darko US’ debut praising and drawing comparisons to Glass Cloud. That said, all of his projects represent a unique (and often incredibly engaging) angle on the chaotic, groovy madness he pens. No project quite expresses his potential than his mathcore/deathcore hybrid The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, though. I’m aware this doesn’t come across as super relevant just yet, but stick with me here.
In 2012, TTDTE released their final album, Danza IIII. While it was never a critical darling, Danza seem to have built up a dedicated cult following in the years following its release. Around its release, of course, Travis moved on to his acclaimed and beloved Glass Cloud project, and thus the end of the group came forth, almost immediately after the album’s release.
The reason I bring all of this up here, is despite them and the band in question, iwrestledabearonce, seeming to have vastly different histories on the surface, they have much more in common than it would seem at a glance. You see, I believe that 2015’s Hail Mary, on a musical level,is the closest thing we will ever receive to a Danza 5. Further, the penning of arguably both groups’ best work to date followed by their immediate and untimely demise, leaves both Hail Mary and Danza IIII serving as the swan songs of their respective groups; bold ventures into new directions before ultimately calling it a day. It’s quite the parallel, and one that I often ponder on, praying to the stars for a new outing from either group at some point in the future.
Further, iwrestledabearonce had a vast and storied history leading up to their eventual end. Starting as a sceney, tongue-in-cheeky mathcore group in the 2000s, the band quickly rose to fame in the MySpace scene of the time. Their kooky, colourful and generally carefree and fun attitude toward their image and music made them quite the spectacle, and a standout among their peers. Much like TTDTE, they were never a critical darling, but they accrued a dedicated fanbase across the MySpace and the internet at large in their early years, which helped establish them as a recognizable figure of the metalcore landscape of the time. The greatest shakeup in the band’s history occurred in 2012, however, when long-time vocalist Krysta Cameron was replaced by Unicron vocalist Courtney LaPlante.
Like with all things iwabo, the ensuing album, 2012’s Late For Nothing, was met with quite the divisive reception. It remained a hit amongst fans, however, with new starter LaPlante proving to be an apt replacement for Cameron, and possessing quite the vocal chops herself. It was clear that something was shifting in the band, though, as in their final years (ending with the release of Hail Mary) the group took a new direction.
When I first heard “Gift of Death” back in 2015 on the leadup to this album’s release, I was surprised to say the least. The fun, sparkly, light-hearted iwabo was gone. Dead. Instead, what stood in its place was this surprisingly mature, dark and extremely heavy incarnation of the group. Trading in the party-hearty attitude and predominantly math-metalcore focused sound of the group’s early years for a much more brooding math-deathcore sound – it was quite the shock to the system.
That’s not to say iwabo abandoned their genre trappings entirely on Hail Mary. The album shows they still have quite the range, effortlessly jumping from punishing, chaotic and at times djenty sections; to gorgeous, proggy and surprisingly catchy clean sections. Their musical breadth was a staple of their sound in the past, and that remains no different on Hail Mary. Perhaps the strongest example across the record would be second single “Green Eyes”, juxtaposing its chaotic Josh Travis-esque minor 2nd tapping, low-tuned chugs and frenetic screams with a more reserved – yet haunting – chorus. This harsh yet alluring juxtaposition is present across the entirety of Hail Mary, and truthfully its pairing with the more ‘serious’ aesthetic is what holds my attention with this album, and it does so much more effectively than the group’s previous efforts.
Visually the group made a jump, too. With both the album cover itself and the album’s music videos taking on a dark, monochromatic aesthetic, it almost seemed wrong for iwabo not to indulge in their tendency to splash an overabundance of colour on anything they could. To me, it was a welcome change, though. Of course, with a name like ‘iwrestledabearonce’ I feel as if there is only so much you can do todistance yourself from a past as goofy as theirs without outright rebranding yourself, though the effort here was valiant, and in all honesty it wasn’t at all hard to take them seriously when they were putting out tunes this good.
Of course, you can’t mention latter day iwabo without addressing the meteoric rise of Spiritbox. Arising from the ashes of iwabo’s quiet end, the group (formed by vocalist Courtney LaPlante and guitar Mike Stringer) have gone on to be something of a cultural phenomenon in metal. Being a generally much more melodic counterpart to iwabo’s unhinged madness, Spiritbox still contain some of that raw, visceral energy that brought them to where they are. With tracks like “Holy Roller” proving to be insanely successful for the group and becoming remarkably widespread among the larger rock and metal community, it seems they’ve transcended their roots to become something more. Begrudge them as legacy iwabo fans may for taking a more djent-oriented direction with their sound, and as much as I adore Hail Mary, Spiritbox comes across as more of a passion project for LaPlante and Stringer than iwabo ever was, and as a result the music is often fantastic, and gorgeously emotive.
Back to the point, though. Overall, Hail Mary was (and remains) an outstandingly mature, and yet appropriately fun outing from one of metalcore’s most divisive groups. It’s dark, angry, proggy, chaotic, and astoundingly grounded and serious for a group who, up to the point of its release, were anything but. With Spiritbox making waves and the end of iwabo’s time together seeming to be quite the sore spot for those involved, it’s unlikely we’ll see a return of mathcore’s goofiest group, though I would not complain if talk of a reunion came to light. Let’s get a Danza reunion too, yeah?
Spiritbox’s debut album, Eternal Blue, is due for release on September 17th via Rise Records/Pale Chord, and you can pre-order the album here. Make sure to check back in September for our full review of the upcoming project if you so please. In any case, however, check back next week for another retrospective from our team.