Sofa King Killer—Midnight Magic (2004)

Details

Produced by Thorla and Seelye. Mastered by David Torrey at DRT Masteringart. Released on Retribute Records, 2004.

Wikipedia

Band

Ryan Burgy—Vocals
Chris Chiera—Guitar
Paul Bartholet—Bass
Brad Thorla—Drums

Tracks

It’s Fun To Be The Bad Guy
Taller Buckets Hold More
The Getaway
The God Out Of Reach
Killing People Is Easy
No Other Path To Pursue
An Ode To Myself
Don’t Slow Me Down
Thiboderux
Holy Bottle

Review

Sofa King Killer were a sludge metal band from Akron in Ohio. According to Wikipedia,

Sofa King Killer’s (abbreviated as SKK) vision was to create a hybrid band of different genres including doom metal, sludge metal, rock and roll and punk rock. The band was known for guitar riffs inspired by Black Sabbath, drums of the Melvins and the vocals of Eyehategod.

If this album is anything to judge them on—and there’s not much more in their back-catalogue, so it will have to do—they’ve done a pretty good job realising their vision.

I imagine this would be a great album to listen to on a long train journey, sitting staring out of the window. The pace of the songs stays pretty consistent, the audible landscape varies little, slowing down here and there, but on the whole bouncing its way through one dirty riff after another.

This is the kind of album that I can listen to on repeat, the kind of album I can listen to and enjoy but which doesn’t distract me for getting on with other pieces of work. This would be great music for writing to, or coding to.

Chiera’s guitars are heavy and loose, tuned down and distorted; Bartholet’s bass guitar rumbles along the bottom occasionally shining through when given the space; Thorla’s drums hold it all together, plenty of cymbal crashes, with the snare tick-tocking to keep the beat; while over the top Burgy’s vocals are throaty and hoarse. It’s tight and loose all the same time. With each song I found my head nodding as I bounced along to the groove.

Conclusion

No surprise but I found this album really enjoyable. Sludge metal has been one of my delightful finds in this project: the average score that I’ve given a sludge metal album is 81%.

It’s a shame that Sofa King Killer split in 2009. I’d liked to have heard more from them. I’ll just have to track down their debut album Stout-Soaked Songs (2000) and see how it compares.

Review score: 90%