Review Summary: Heavier and more straight-forward, sometimes traditional and other times experimental, but always exhilarating, Mantra III shows the Beggars’s sound at its most varied.
Formed by Arch Enemy guitarist Michael Amott, Spiritual Beggars is one of the best yet most underrated bands in the hard/stoner rock genre despite the fact that nearly every one of their album is a wonderful collection of everything that makes the genre great. The band’s consistency is only matched by their musical creativity by always making their retro sound fresh, catchy and energized while also being modern enough to escape the possible trappings of being a glorified cover band. And their third album “Mantra III” is another great example of that.
“Mantra III” has a rather interesting place in their discography. Taking its place between the sound-defining “Another Way to Shine” and their most known and acclaimed record “Ad Astra”, it is possibly their most overlooked album despite being an important step the band’s musical evolution. As always the core of the sound is a dynamic combination of 70’s hard rock and the groove/fuzzy-heavy 90’s desert rock with some Sabbath proto-doom and psychedelia in the mix as well. It’s the execution that makes this one a different album than their others and throughout the 12 songs (14 if you have the remastered version) Amott and his partners use every possibility to widen their musical horizon.
The opening track “Homage to the Betrayed” immediately shows the changes. The song builds upon the groove-heavy rhythmic riffing but this time they received a much heavier and metallic vibe than the ones presented on the previous Beggars albums and this heavier tone is very much present on the other tracks as well. You can pretty much say that here they sound closer to Sabbath and Trouble. Also the faster and more intense pacing of this song also marks a surprising but well-made change from the band’s usual mid-tempo style. Of course they stay loyal to that through most of the record, but hearing the upbeat, punkish “Cosmic Romance” that sounds like a spaced-up, stoner version of Mötorhead makes me smile from ear to ear. These guys are not afraid to change the usual formula and it pays off very well.
Michael Amott does an amazing job on this album both as a guitarist and a songwriter. He manages to construct every song to instantly hook the listener with a great riff than introduce other ideas into the songs to make every one of them distinct on their own yet fully part of the whole record. “Monster Astronauts” and “Bad Karma” are classic Beggars stuff with straightforward structure and blues-laden approach while showcasing some of the heavier elements of the record. “Euphoria” is a more percussive, more traditional-metal sounding song but its atmosphere brings a more grand tone to it especially during its chorus. Also in between some tracks we get shorter and quirkier stuff like “Broken Morning” or the jazzy, lounge-like “Superbossanova”. And with its unorthodox build-up, some Latin-American drum work and trippy breakdowns “Inside Charmer” is easily the most unusual song they written so far.
The psych-heavy, retro 70’s vibe also more present with the introduction of keyboardist Per Wilberg (whom later became a member of Opeth as well). His playing is very well integrated into the songs he is present on and instead of sticking out like a sore thumb, he actually adds another musical layer thus becoming another bridge between the bands musical past and present along with Amott’s riffs. The dynamic between him and the other band members are clear on such songs as “Send Me a Smile”, “Sad Queen Boogie” or even “Cosmic Romance” where he is quite great at matching himself up with Amott’s impressive lead guitar skills. But nearly every other band member’s performance is top notch, whether it’s Spice’s soaring vocals and juicy bass, Amott’s guitar playing, or Ludwig Witt’s technically impressive yet thoughtful drumming (he even gets a little drum solo in the middle of “Bad Karma”). All of them come together perfectly on the album’s big final piece, “Mushroom Tea Girl”, an eight and a half minute long beast where the band start off traditionally so that later they can venture off to uncharted territories with completely freehanded yet captivating jamming. A perfect closer to a great record.
In overall “Mantra III” shows a band with the full arsenal of their musical genre and the capability to make their sound stand on its recognizable own. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish, and while Spiritual Beggars to this day remains a band listened only by a small circle, that shouldn’t scare anyone away because they manage represent both quality and accessibility.
