The King Must Die - Sleep Can't Hide the Fear

Artist: The King Must Die
Release Title: Sleep Can't Hide the Fear
Year: 2014
Label: Self-Released/Independent
Genre: Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Confidential Confidence
2. Your Grip Is
3. No Forgiveness
4. The Mountains Wept
5. This Invisible Disease
6. The Birth of War
7. Treacherous and True
8. Notongue
9. Fall of Man
10. You Know This
11. Sinthetically Wasted
12. This Day This Life

The debut album from California thrashers The King Must Die offers a rather decent and enjoyable style here that’s enjoyable if not entirely all that memorable. Based heavily on fiery, churning riff-work and a stylish Bay Area centerpiece when it comes to the rhythms, there’s a decidedly enjoyable set-up here that does at the least come off as enjoyable about what it really wants to do here in regards to it’s energetic rhythms running through it’s tracks. Even when it settles for mid-tempo swirling rhythms and choppy, pounding drumming, there’s a sense here that the music is enjoyable and engaging without really going for the knockout blow that would be required here to let the music get that fast, intense quality that’s seemingly based upon the riffing and pounding rhythms featured. The music here seems to be stuck in a second-gear compared to what it really seems capable of, and there’s enough moments of teasing that possibility here that it seems entirely possible that’s the case here where it could’ve let loose with those up-tempo patterns that are seemingly just lurking just beneath the surface of the songs. A minor off-shoot of that comes from this one being slightly overlong with too many tracks and falling into the same repeated tempos and patterns due to having a few too many songs here, but for the most part this one isn’t as detrimental and problematic.

The first half here is an enjoyable idea of what’s to come here. Opener ‘Confidential Confidence’ features steady riffing and a series of thumping up-tempo drumming running through a rather energetic mid-tempo series of thumping rhythms with screaming, frantic leads throughout the solo section and keeping the dexterous drumming into the tight finale for a really enjoyable opening effort. ‘Your Grip Is’ uses thumping drumming and energetic rousing riff-work moving along through engaging mid-tempo patterns as the swirling riff-work keeps the stuttering rhythms along through the sterling solo section and keeps the stuttering rhythms along into the final half for a decent if still enjoyable offering. ‘No Forgiveness’ takes a swirling series of thumping rhythms and tight, pounding drumming charging along at a steady mid-tempo pace as the steady riffing along into the rousing, fiery solo section and taking using the sprawling rhythms along into the finale for a fun effort overall. ‘The Mountains Wept’ features thumping, high-energy drumming alongside heavy, swirling riff-work generating a solid mid-tempo charge as the pounding drumming keeps the steady pace alongside the tight series of thumping riffing leading into the steady, pounding final half for a much stronger effort.  ‘This Invisible Disease’ uses strong, dexterous drumming and churning rhythms with tight and frantic leads throughout the stuttering rhythms leading to the fiery solo section and keeping the dexterous drum-work and pounding paces into the finale for another strong, enjoyable thrasher. The short and brutal ‘The Birth of War’ takes strong, swirling rhythms and tight drum-work along through the rousing, engaging rhythms full of thumping patterns with the swirling leads around the solo section and on into the rabid final half for a biting, blistering highlight.

The second half is another highly enjoyable part of the album. ‘Treacherous and True’ slowly builds into a steady mid-tempo series of thumping rhythms with swirling lead-work as it settles on the thumping charging pace throughout a moody, atmospheric solo section with tight rhythms carrying along into the steady, heavy finale for a fun track. ‘Notongue’ works through a steady, mid-tempo series of thumping rhythms with plenty of pounding drumming and mid-tempo paces that fires off a strong series of tight, urgent rhythms along through the dynamic solo section and offering up plenty of tight patterns along the final half for a steady, enjoyable if unspectacular effort. ‘Fall of Man’ utilizes thumping drumming and sparkling mid-tempo riffing with a steady pace rolling along into a simplistic series of swirling riffing with the fiery riff-work bringing along a more intense series of patterns into the solo section and continuing on through the thumping finale for an enjoyable and rousing highlight. ‘You Know This’ immediately takes the pounding drumming and steady riff-work along through a rousing series of up-tempo patterns with plenty of dexterous, thumping drumming carrying on through the energetic solo section and keeping the steady, up-tempo final half for another high-energy affair. ‘SINthetically Wasted’ features pummeling drumming and swirling thumping rhythms along through the steady mid-tempo charging that brings the strong riffing along through the churning solo section and bringing back the thumping, pounding rhythms along through the rousing finale for a decent enough effort that gets far better as it goes along. Finally, ‘This Day This Life’ uses simple pounding rhythms alongside swirling, churning drumming that keeps the fiery, energetic riff-work running along through the churning up-tempo paces keeping the thumping energy along through the solo section and along into the rousing final half for a rather enjoyable lasting impression.

Certainly not a debut that will set the thrash world on fire, there’s still enough fun spots here that make it a solid enough offering for those less judgmental thrash fans who will uphold this one’s positives more readily than others who may find those negative parts a bit too overwhelming to take.

Score: 82/100

Does it sound good? Order from here:
https://tkmdband.bandcamp.com/album/sleep-cant-hide-the-fear