Band:	Electric Belt
Album:	Never Seen The Devil
Style:	Blues rock
Release date:	March 17, 2019
A review by:	BitterCOld

01. Tavern Sinners Lament
02. Werewoolf Woman
03. The Liar Goes To Church
04. Hacia La Cueva De Los Muñecos
05. Never Seen The Devil
06. Tired And Bored

Spaniards Electric Belt play dirty blues, which is basically blues with a rock/distortion infusion. Heavier on the blues structures than just rock in a blues scale. Never Seen The Devil is, overall, a good album with a bit more hit than miss.

While most albums seem to open with the strongest offering, the roundhouse to the jaw to floor the listener, Never Seen The Devil, to me at least, opened with a big swing and a miss. It seems they try to come out the gate with "Tavern Sinners Lament" showcasing this is BLUES-rock, not ROCK with bluesy leads by interweaving a blues shuffle with a little slide guitar to act as an exclamation point on the riff. The tempo is just a tad too upbeat, so it feels a bit disjointed? and let's just say I'm not a huge fan of the vocals and this track lives him a bit exposed.

So yeah, hit and miss.

Or rather miss and *HIT*. The follow-up, "Werewoolf Woman" does a masterful job synthesizing an uptempo blues shuffle with rock and roll energy. The vibe is similar to recent Clutch or classic ZZ Top. Vocals fit more in. It was at this point I went from "meh" to "I am now invested in your album and want to hear what comes next, please do continue, caballeros." This track will find its way to my 2019 random samplers playlist.

I guess to continue a bit of the boxing analogy, "The Liar Goes To Church" is a bit of a jab, i.e. an okay track with a "meh" verse and a swell head-noddy chorus. "Hacia la Cueva de los Muñecos" serves as a psychedelic departure in between rounds before kicking into the longest, possibly strongest, and defo jammiest track on the album, the title track. Clocking in at 12 minutes, it's a fun listen encapsulating a lot of the various elements previously showcased.

And the six pack of Spanish blues closes out with "Tired And Bored", which like the opener showcases a bit of classic blues picking accentuated by a little more slide? but executed in a manner which made the closer significantly more enjoyable/catchy than the opener.

So yeah, kind of did a song-by-song, so don't call the Review Police, but just seemed the best way to describe an album which had highs, lows, and varying styles between songs.

If the notion of BLUES-rock interests you, I'd strongly suggest starting with "Werewoolf Woman" to check this one out. If that floats your (Mississippi Delta) boat, continue on to the others.
Never seen the devil, but I have seen [url= https://electricbelt.bandcamp.com/album/never-seen-the-devil]bandcamp[/url].