Sweden’s SPIRITUAL BEGGARS finally return to the spotlight with their first new studio album in five years, “Return To Zero”. Once again, the 'Beggars effortlessly manage to confirm they are a band that continues to defy musical boundaries and that delivers Classic Heavy Rock at its very best!

Everybody needs to find a balance in life. Guitarist Michael Amott is balancing his love for music between the extreme sounds in his main band Arch Enemy as well as his recently reformed legendary outfit Carcass. At the same time, he has an impressive track record with his Classic Rock band SPIRITUAL BEGGARS. While Arch Enemy is recovering from two years of intense worldwide touring for their latest release, Amott has returned ‘home’ with some creative time to re-activate SPIRITUAL BEGGARS. He can now proudly launch a brand-new, 7th full-length album titled “Return To Zero” via InsideOutMusic.

For Amott, the founder, main composer and principal lyricist of the illustrious five-piece - which also features long-term musical companions Ludwig Witt (Drums, also in Firebird), Per Wiberg (Keys, also in Opeth) and Sharlee D’Angelo (Bass, also in Arch Enemy and Witchery).

Firing up the SPIRITUAL BEGGARS engine again also meant looking for a new vocalist for the group. Amott comments: “In that sense, it felt like starting over. Our previous singer JB decided to leave the band and to dedicate himself solely to Grand Magus, but we remain good friends. This led to our drummer Ludwig suggesting to check out this singer he had played with in a bar band, Apollo Papathanasio. He is also in a Metal band from Greece called Firewind. But he is a local guy, who lives 20 minutes from my house - Apollo is half Greek, half Swedish. His voice will blow people away, at times he sounds like Dio or Coverdale and he’s got that raw bluesy edge that I love”.

It’s been five long years since SPIRITUAL BEGGARS have released their latest studio album, “Demons”, which they only briefly promoted live with a tour supporting Dio in Japan, before the members were scattered across the world to tour relentlessly in their main acts.

2006 saw the band’s latest sign of life with the release of the “Live Fire!” Live-DVD. In 2010 SPIRITUAL BEGGARS all gathered again at last. Introducing new vocalist Apollo Papathanasio, “Return To Zero” presents an extremely varied and dynamic outfit that manages to captivate the listener throughout the twelve new songs on the album (The limited edition version Digipak additionally includes a great cover of Uriah Heep’s ‘Time To Live’). The album showcases a well-balanced mix of the band’s trademark energetic 70’s Hard Rock appeal as well as a more prominent Classic Rock attitude with amazingly effective songwriting and masterful playing skills. “This album is the most diverse we’ve ever made”, Amott agrees, “There is a lot different stuff on it… Some of the heaviest stuff we’ve ever done as band, but then we also show a softer side and even have two ballads on the album. There is a lot of blues and hard rock combined and the songs sound very fresh. The melodies are reaching deeper…it’s an emotional journey with lots of Hammond Organ and guitar orgasms!”

The work of SPIRITUAL BEGGARS once again clearly reflects Amott’s affection for Classic Rock, as he explains: “Extreme Metal was my first love. I was listening to Slayer before I discovered UFO. So I was asking myself, where are the roots? Obviously, I knew Black Sabbath, Deep Purple etc… Then I found Mountain, Cactus, Captain Beyond – That’s why I started SPIRITUAL BEGGARS”. Amott’s passion for the style remains undeniably intact, as he names influential players like Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Michael Schenker and Frank Marino as inspirations for his own performances, before concluding with his seriously dedicated attitude towards his own band’s work: “I still write albums! I don’t write single songs for MP3 consumption! To me music is still something that has to be treated with respect. It’s art.”

“Return To Zero” was powerfully co-produced once again by Michael Amott together with engineer/mixer Rickard Bengtsson, who had previously already worked on the “On Fire” (2002) and “Demons” (2005) albums, at Sweetspot Studio nearby Halmstad, Sweden. The album is set to be released worldwide (outside Japan) via InsideOutMusic, clearly proving that SPIRITUAL BEGGARS are back in excellent shape and fully ready to reclaim the throne of contemporary Heavy Rock!