Spiritual Beggars has its roots deep in the seventies, with groups like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple as the biggest source of inspiration. Yet on its fourth CD Ad Astra the band goes further than rehashing the old hard rock clichés. Spiritual Beggars mixes the heavy, unwieldy guitar sound that is characteristic of stoner rock with the aggression of nineties metal, the melodic Black Sabbath from
… the CDs The Mob Rules and Heaven & Hell, and a few hints of sympho. Thanks to the very strong compositions, the fat Hammond organ parts, the voice of singer Spice (who looks a lot like Ronnie James Dio) and the creative drumming, Ad Astra is one of the better records in the harder rock genre of 2000. (WvdZ)more
