"The mud runs red in a dead river" is not an image you would expect from a band out of San Francisco. Then again, California is not a part of America you normally associate with the blues.
Nonetheless ,these three guys obviously have their fair share of demons and in the space of 25 minutes they take us to a place which is about as far away from a surfing safari as you can possibly get.
Devil Said Maybe are drummer Josh Levin and brothers Benjamin and Nicolas Brown on vocals/guitar and bass respectively.
Their raw acoustic arrangements draw upon the tradition of early Delta blues to establish an uncompromisingly bleak mood replete with dark clouds and earth rather than the sun and sand.
Benjamin's gruff , guttural Eddie Vedder-ish vocals tell pitch-black tales full of tortured memories and threatening shadows. His harsh voice is a little disconcerting in its intensity; for example, the line "Do my eyes deceive me?" on Nevermind Nevermore sounds like it has been wrenched from the very depths of pain and sorrow.
His unrelenting fatalism weighs heavy and while the band claim there is a "vengeful uplift" to the seven songs, this is buried very deep indeed.
This is not a record designed to lift the spirits but the heartfelt songs are powerful in the way they evoke the tarnished side of the American dream.
