Kevin Bronson on June 26th, 2012

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“King Devil is the bad guy we have inside of us,” Joe Fraley says of his new nom de tune, and you can hear the singer-guitarist wrestling his demons throughout King Devil’s self-titled album. Fraley’s fearlessly eclectic brand of acoustic blues and rawboned, off-kilter psych-pop simmers with frustration and rage – music inspired, he says, by a nervous breakdown and relationships gone bad. Fraley’s vision was realized musically with the help of Brock Flores, with whom he played in Klum, and two others who did short stints in that band, Vin O and Aaron Vishria. Melissa Bell adds to the songs’ conversations with her vocals, and Sebastian A. Bach (Body Parts) is now on board as a guitarist. Powerful stuff, “King Devil” is one of those mad genius albums stitching together the sturdy fabric of palpable emotions, even if they are frayed around the edges.

||| Download: “Lackland Blues”

||| Also: After the jump, check out the video for “We Can Take ’Em On”: