More colorful and evolved songs like "Sedated" typify the dynamic but still quite heavy sound of Spiritual Beggars' third release, Ad Astra.
The band had previously stuck to a contemporary stoner palette somewhere between the thundering Kyuss and chaotic Corrosion of Conformity, but everything from the Doors ("Per Aspera Ad Astra") to Deep Purple ("Wonderful World" and others) gets folded into the retro metal mix on this release.
Christian "Spice" Sjöstrand's more aggressive vocal work clears up any confusion about the group's modernity, but relevance really isn't an issue with music this crushing (yet listenable).
Just like the first two Spiritual Beggars records, Ad Astra's opener, "Left Brain Ambassadors," is a hard rock juggernaut, and its only fault is the setting of a musical standard that is practically impossible to maintain through the following 13 tracks.
The band almost pulls it off with cunning takes on '70s elders like Kiss on the Love Gun-influenced "Save Your Soul" and during more traditional Kyuss references like "On Dark Rivers." If it weren't for the out of place ballad "It's Over," Ad Astra would bake like a sun dancer in the heat of stoner rock perfection.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Left Brain AmbassadorsSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 03:17 | 7 MB | 25 MB |
| 2 | Wonderful World | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 04:01 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 3 | SedatedSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 04:19 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 4 | Angel of BetrayalSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 03:41 | 8 MB | 28 MB |
| 5 | BlessedSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 03:33 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 6 | Per Aspera Ad AstraSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 04:11 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 7 | Save Your SoulSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 03:58 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 8 | Until the MorningSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 06:04 | 13 MB | 43 MB |
| 9 | Escaping the FoolsSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 05:24 | 12 MB | 40 MB |
| 10 | On Dark RiversSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 05:35 | 12 MB | 40 MB |
| 11 | The GoddessSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 03:17 | 7 MB | 25 MB |
| 12 | MantraSpiritual Beggars | Spiritual Beggars | Play | 06:49 | 15 MB | 44 MB |
| 54 mins | 124 MB | |||||
| 54 mins | 397 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Amott | Slide Guitar |
| 2 | Michael Amott | Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm), Mixing, Slide Guitar |
| 3 | Dirty Bunch | Handclapping |
| 4 | Göran Finnberg | Mastering |
| 5 | Tony Hunter | Photography |
| 6 | Sven Jansson | Engineer |
| 7 | Fredrik Nordström | Engineer, Mixing, Producer, Synthesizer |
| 8 | Spiritual Beggars | Composer, Primary Artist |
| 9 | Per Wiberg | Fender Rhodes, Harmonica, Mellotron, Organ, Piano (Grand), Vocals (Background) |
| 10 | Ludwig Witt | Cymbals, Drums, Tambourine |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |