Kudos to Regain Records for helping get this 1994 debut from Sweden's Spiritual Beggars out in rotation again, as the original issue from Wrong Again Records (oddly enough, a label that later became Regain) has long been out of print. For those who don't know, Spiritual Beggars is the psychedelic hard rock project of former Carcass and current Arch Enemy guitar slinger Michael Amott, one of the most respected metal guitar players on the planet. In between activity with his main band Arch Enemy, Amott has managed to put together six albums with Spiritual Beggars, and this debut was the humble beginnings. Basically a trio here of Amott on guitars, Ludwig Witt on drums, and Spice on vocals & bass, the music basically takes its influence from such acts as Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Robin Trower, Frank Marino, UFO, and Mountain, with Spice's husky vocals and Amott's beefy riffing & fleet fingered solos leading the charge. Tunes like "Yearly Dying", "Pelekas", "If This is All", and "Magificent Obsession" are all just solid examples of 70's inspired hard rock, or 'stoner' rock if you prefer, filled with groove and muscle. If you are used to Amott's death metal riffing in Arch Enemy or Carcass, you'll be pleasantly surprised to hear his crunchy blues rock feel with Spiritual Beggars, which totally shows a different side to this talented musician. It's hard not to be moved by a raging hard rock tune like "Under Silence", which just fires away on every level, Witt's tasty drum fills adding a slight jazz element to what is otherwise a groove laden rocker. Regain has added four bonus tracks here to this reissue, each one a quality example of thunderously heavy blues rock, especially the Led Zeppelin sounding "Blind Mountain" and the psychedelic "Nowehere To Go".
Great stuff here-if you didn't check this out the first time around, there's no time like the present. Then, make sure you investigate the rest of the Spiritual Beggars catalog.
Track Listing
1. Yearly Dying
2. Pelekas
3. The Space Inbetween
4. If This is All
5. Under Silence
6. Magificent Obsession
7. Blind Mountain -bonus track
8. If You Should Leave -bonus track
9. Nowehere To Go -bonus track
10. Sour Saints -bonus track
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