Heavy Rotation-Spiritual Beggars-"Return To Zero"

I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Spiritual Beggars new album "Return To Zero" for some time, after hearing about the addition of new singer Apollo Papathanasio from the Greek metal band Firewind, I was curious to hear what his power metal vocal-style would sound like with the band, and it is pretty much seemless. This band has always had a pretty interesting mix of great musicians comprised of other bands from different genres of metal putting out some pretty incredible albums, one of my favorites being the 2000 release Ad Astra (#31 on my all-time list). "Return To Zero" is another very solid effort by these guys. This one will be a fixture in my MP3 player for quite some time.

What others are saying:

"It wouldn’t be accurate to think of Spiritual Beggars as the first Swedish heavy rock band, because Sweden has been turned on and tuned in since the beginning, but what guitarist Michael Amott’s post-Carcass outfit did was embrace a more modern stoner sound and help found the scene that would later grow into one of the world’s most vibrant and prolific. And what’s more, they rocked. There’s no discounting the earliest work of Spiritual Beggars in the ‘90s. In both quality and influence, 1994’s Spiritual Beggars, 1996’s Another Way to Shine and 1998’s Mantra III are essential documents for anyone looking to understand the growth of European stoner rock.

Spiritual Beggars’ latest offering, Return to Zero (InsideOut/Century Media) is notable before you even hit play because of (Per Wiberg’s moustache, but also) the departure of vocalist JB Christoffersson, who left the band on good terms to focus on his main project, the mighty Grand Magus. Replacing Christoffersson is Apollo Papathanasio of Greek power metallers Firewind – you may have heard the name because guitarist Gus G. is now playing with Ozzy Osbourne – and though Christoffersson’s work on 2002’s On Fire and 2005’s Demons is not to be duplicated, Papathanasio does an admirable job, proving he’s a soulful, versatile singer in his own right, able to match Amott’s riff and solo magic with a bluesy throat and powerful delivery, and ultimately a worthy successor to Christoffersson and original vocalist Christian "Spice" Sjöstrand....(Read more)

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TRACKLIST:

01.Return to Zero (Intro)
02.Lost in Yesterday
03.Star Born
04.The Chaos of Rebirth
05.We are Free
06.Spirit of the Wind
07.Coming Home
08.Concrete Horizon
09.A New Dawn Rising
10.Believe in Me
11.Dead Weight
12.The Road Less Travelled
13.Time to Live (Bonus Track)

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