(repost from November 28th 2007)
Spiritual Beggars... The name alone hints at greatness beyond the mortal realm, doesn't it?
Formed in Halmstad, Sweden in 1994 after lead guitarist Mike Amott had left English gore/grind/metal/whatever legends Carcass and moved back home to Sweden. Having nurtured a fetish for groovy 70's rock for years, Amott got some random homies together to fulfill his dream, most of which he found at the local rehab centers, just lying around killing time, listening to Slayer, avoiding work and doing hard drugs and roach powder because there was nothing better to do (okay, I made that last part up).
Ludwig Witt on drums, Per Wiberg (now a member of the almighty prog metal gods Opeth) on keyboards, and the true jewel in the crown, the one who made it sound as awesome as it did: Vocalist/bassist Christian Sjöstrand, a.k.a. Spice. Spice's voice was the one thing that sucked me right in when I heard the band for the first time.
After recording four albums with Spiritual Beggars (S/t in 1994, Another Way To Shine in 1996, Mantra III in 1998 and Ad Astra in 2000) he left the band and has since recorded quality stuff with Mushroom River Band, Kayser and most recently Spice And The RJ Band. All worth checking out.
To replace him, Amott hired Grand Magus vocalist Janne "JB" Christoffersson, with whom they have so far recorded two albums (On Fire in 2002 and Demons in 2005). And while he's not a bad singer in any way whatsoever, it's the Spice era that means the most to me. I love JB's voice in Grand Magus, but if I wanna listen to Spiritual Beggars... I want me some sugar and Spice.
Mantra III is, along with Another Way To Shine, my favorite Spiritual Beggars album - just the songtitles alone are awesome (Monster Astronauts, Lack Of Prozac, Mushroom Tea Girl, Cosmic Romance etc etc). Mantra III was my introduction to the band and the majestic Euphoria was the first song of theirs I ever heard, on some Swedish TV show in 1999 in a montage of then-current Swedish metal, spliced inbetween In Flames' Scorn and Tiamat's Cold Seed!
Homage To The Betrayed is another quality track, which for some reason reminds me of Down. There's something slighty Pepper Keenan-ish about the riffs and I can totally hear Phil Anselmo screaming on top of 'em. To finish it off: The oh so hard rockin' Redwood Blues, which was included as a bonus track on the 2007 reissue of Mantra III.
(mp3) Spiritual Beggars - Homage to the betrayed
(mp3) Spiritual Beggars - Euphoria (highly recommended!)
(mp3) Spiritual Beggars - Redwood blues
Buy Mantra III @ Amazon.com.
Euphoria live in London 2005 (I think), with current singer JB:
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