bonnek
It won't surprise anyone anymore but it remains just spot-on, Amott's groovy heavy retro-doom rock hobby-band SPIRITUAL BEGGARS is back after a 5 year absence and brings us exactly what we could expect. Vocalist JB who sang on the 2 previous studio albums has left the band for his own and very similar project GRAND MAGUS. His place is taken by the Apollo Papathanasio from the Greek powermetal band FIREWIND. He sounds almost exactly like JB: classic heavy rock voice, powerful and raw when needed, but balanced against a deep low-end and great warmth. Nice. Also Amott is in fine form and treats us with fat catchy riffs and good rocking grooves. Per Wiberg's contribution is reasonably modest so we'll probably have to wait for the new Opeth to fully enjoy him.
There is enough variety on the album and filler tracks are carefully avoided. Just don't expect anything new or groundbreaking, a solid stoner-doom-hard rock for fans of --fill in any 70s hard rock band--. Really nice, but it might have been a bit more exciting and dangerous maybe.