Pure demonstrations of how even a long experience band like this can still dispense inspiration in a multitude of ways.

When you write for a magazine, something that almost never happens is that what you're musically into during a determined period of your year matches with your tasks as a reviewer. So, for instance, you are assigned to write about an enigmatic Prog Metal band from Italy while all you're listening to personally during your bike communing trails is Brownsville Station and Black Oak Arkansas. Now that you know my current playlist, I'll tell you that the new Spiritual Beggars album, 'Sunrise to Sundown', has just got that seventies vibe that I recently starve for.

Nevertheless, there's also something to suit everybody's fancy here, from the Rainbow/Dio fuelled Heavy Metal of 'What Doesn't Kill You' to the silken mid-tempo of 'Diamond Under Pressure' that sits somewhere between the class of Deep Purple and the lewdness of Grand Funk Railroad. Further variety can be found from the monolithic, muscular and primitive pace of 'Hard Road', an enthusiastic crossover between the Scorpions of the seventies and the Black Sabbath of the late eighties (Tony Martin era), to the claustrophobic and moody 'I Turn To Stone', where even the most remote, turbulent and restless spirits of Psychedelic Vanilla Fudge's repertoire are evoked.

Then, what about Michael Amott? This guy is seriously one of those endangered guitarists that injects every note with so much intensity and depth, but without showing off his unquestionable skills at the expense of the songs. Songs that are brilliantly unfolded by the immense Apollo Papathanasio, who really owns the interpretation of these eleven tracks with an overwhelming confidence. One of his peak performances is delivered in the epic 'No Man's Land' – once again very Rainbow-like but more in tune with the Joe Lynn Turner period – where Amott lets all of his Michael Schenker influences loose with such personal taste and feeling.

Also worthy of a mention, and I usual never consider these details generally for review purposes, I would also like to praise the originality of the album title and the amazing cover artwork, pure demonstrations of how even a long experience band like this can still dispense inspiration in a multitude of ways.

Enrico Navella