Sofa King Killer

Lust Crime and Holiness (At A Loss)
by Brian Varney

Based on the one and only time I saw these guys play live, I’m thinking they should change their name to Sofa King Loud. I’ve seen plenty of loud bands in my time, and each time taken the punishment like a trooper, but Sofa King Killer was the loudest shit I’ve ever heard. Loud to the point where everything sort of blended into white noise, where I couldn’t discern any specific sounds other than an occasional scream from the singer. I could see the guitarist putting a hurtin’ on his wah pedal, but I couldn’t hear any of his notes through the general haze of loud. Louder than Boulder, louder than High on Fire the time I helped them load into a club and it took four or five trips just to lug in Matt Pike’s rig, louder than Motörhead, you name it. Fucking LOUD was my lasting impression, you see.

So I was naturally curious to hear what they actually sounded like underneath the tidal waves of volume that caused me to flee the club about five minutes into their set. The most surprising thing to be had on this EP is “Blues Couch,” an acoustic-driven instrumental with lots of clean slide guitar and ominous sound-effects dropping in and out of the background. The effect is unsettling, especially when you consider the thundering racket that surrounds it. I don’t know if they do things like this on all of their recordings, but it does add a nice depth to their sonic palette. The other three songs are more along the lines of what I think I would’ve heard at the live show had I been able to discern actual notes and stuff. The vocals are raw, shouted from a throat that has shredded itself trying to sing like John Brannon, and the rhythm section’s grooves are thick and monolithic like an elephant teetering on the edge of a skyscraper.

There aren’t really any songs to speak of, but Sofa King Killer seems to share space with bands like Isis, who are more about creating tones and atmosphere ala Pink Floyd than writing verse-chorus-verse pop songs. Lust, Crime, and Holiness is probably not something I’ll pull off the shelf terribly often and I really shouldn’t have it in the car with me lest I open fire on one of my mentally-disadvantaged fellow drivers, but for those days when I come home from work pissed off and want only to scream and hit things, you can bet I’ll be screaming along with this CD.
(PO Box 582 Eastlake, CO 80614)