With their eighth studio album, Sweden’s Spiritual Beggars update a tried-and-true formula with noticeably catchier songs and analog production that’s unapologetically stuck in the past. Stylistically, Earth Blues toes the line between proto-metal and early British heavy metal. “Wise as a Serpent” throws down early '70s–style hard rock with a rhythmic backbone built to boogie. But the impressive falsettos from wailing frontman Apollo Papathanasio pull the band’s sound up a few years to recall Heaven and Hell–era Ronnie James Dio. Just as that song teeters between the Ozzy-fronted and Dio-fronted Black Sabbath lineups, the prominent Hammond B3 organ in “Turn the Tide” fills in the gap between Deep Purple and Rainbow, with Papathanasio’s soaring vocals anchoring the group closer to the latter. When Spiritual Beggars mellow out the tempos and attack, their songs take on a Led Zeppelin–esque maturity. Check out “Sweet Magic Pain,” where Papathanasio channels Robert Plant as his voice takes winding melodic detours over period-correct Mellotron tones. Doom metal fans’ patience pays off with the sludgy closer “Legends Collapse.”