Typecast as the voice of evil, British actors somehow gravitated towards the more Machiavellian of roles. Characterised by their performance in their other bands we see members of Arch Enemy, Firewind, Grand Magus and Opeth come together for a new offering to aim to shed their pigeonholed styles with the refreshing addition to Spiritual Beggars’ catalogue Sunrise To Sundown.
[tracklist]
- Sunrise To Sundown
- Diamond Under Pressure
- What Doesn’t Kill You
- Hard Road
- Still Hunter
- No Man’s Land
- I Turn To Stone
- Dark Light Child
- Lonely Freedom
- You’ve Been Fooled
- Southern Star
[/tracklist]
[details]
[length]Enter album length here[/length]
[record_label]Inside Out[/record_label]
[release_date]March 18th 2016[/release_date]
[/details]
On the surface songs seem to be quickfire, simplistic affairs but once dissected are actually surprisingly intriguing. “Diamond Under Pressure” brought together by a truss of Classic Rock riffs whilst given the daze of classic seventies Prog with Wiberg’s keyboards. Disguised in the drapery of Classic Rock opener “Sunrise To Sundown” begins in a haze of fuzz guitar before the metaphorical LSD slowly kicks in and the track goes to the more experimental regions of Rock. Owing to their excellent tone the band fit each section perfectly. Amott’s lead lines in particular show their Melodic Death Metal heritage, which all in all makes for a fantastic and divergent take on the solo art.
Though at times the record can seem a little paint by numbers Classic Rock, the band happily sideline the listener with a section that might appear out of place yet fits perfectly within the aesthetic. Having said that “Hard Road” brings that classic eighties Metal thunder with a stadium sized verse with some particularly Van Halen style licks along with the Bon Jovi style bass line of “No Man’s Land” . Yet it’s not all about sprawling solos, originally fairly middle of the road “Still Hunter” exhibits our singers brilliant hook laden range making for the song to become an entity of its own. Aptly titled “Southern Star” finishes the album off still buoyant as we come to the end of our drug induced stream.
Soaring leads of “What Doesn’t Kill You” sees once again the classic melodies in Amott’s arsenal resurface. Put against a different backdrop unexpectedly working brilliantly with Apollo Papathanasio’s vocals making for the track to sound like Neo-classical prog rock. Contrasting with use of clever effects “Lonely Freedom” brings to mind the most Stoner aspect of the album with a groovy central riff cocooned in desert like keys of Wiberg. With a resurgence of bands that aim to recall the golden years of the seventies, Spiritual Beggars are able to not only conjure this sense of nostalgic psychedelia but bring with it a exploratory vision synonymous with the Progressive genre and in doing so have crafted an album that creates and interesting, ever so slightly unbalanced smorgasbord of psychedelia demonstrating that they are anything but typecast.
[verdict]Yes[/verdict]
[why]”Step outside your cage, learn the rules then break them all” Following this idiom closely, Spiritual Beggars step outside of their respective band’s comfort zones to create a milieu that the band simply thrive upon.[/why]
If you like what you read / heard then you can pick up the brand new album here!
