UMUR "Malgrowth" is the 2nd demo cassette tape by Danish death metal act Konkhra. The demo was recorded and mixed at Red House Studio in October 1991, and self-released in November 1991. Three tracks from the demo would also appear on the "Stranded (1992)" EP in the exact same versions ("Lustration of the Need", "Spread Around", and "Deathwish").

The material on the 5 track, 20:21 minutes long demo is death metal with snarling aggressive vocals. It´s technically well played, and relatively well composed. The opening track "The Deadmoon" is the most memorable and intriguing track on the demo, and the quality of the other tracks aren´t quite as high as on that track, but they still work pretty well. The sound production is decent, but the guitars could have prospered from a more powerful and raw production. The same with the drums and the bass.

So the quality is a bit up and down. It´s still pretty obvious why Konkhra was offered a label deal on the grounds of the demo though, because there is a lot of promise here and even a hint of something original. It´s just a bit raw and unpolished at this point. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "The Vicious Circle" is the debut demo cassette tape by Danish death metal act Konkhra. The demo was self-released in 1990. It´s one of the earliest death metal releases from Denmark, and Konkhra subsequently went on to become one of the major players on the Danish death metal scene of the 90s. The band is a three-piece on "The Vicious Circle" consisting of Anders Lundemark (Bass, Vocals), Jon Clausen (Drums, Vocals), Claus Vedel (Guitars, Vocals).

The music on the demo is technically well played death metal featuring a good portion of tempo changes. It´s actually very well played and very well produced considering the time of release. The growling vocals are pretty standard for the genre, and not that distinct sounding, but occasionally a more aggressive vocal type is used, which provides the vocal part of the music with some variation. While "The Vicious Circle" isn´t wildly original sounding, I can only point to a few clear references, but if I have to mention one it would be late 80s/early 90s Carcass.

The 4 tracks on the 15:07 minutes long demo are all well written, well performed, and considering that "The Vicious Circle" is a demo, very well produced. The guitar sound could have been a bit more powerful sounding, but other than that, the sound is pretty close to regular early 90s death metal studio album sound quality.

Konkhra was one of the most talked about death metal acts on the Danish scene in the early 90s, and subsequently developed into one of the most prolific Danish death metal acts, and listening to "The Vicious Circle" it´s obvious why that is. First of all it´s a quality demo release through and through, and secondly Konkhra had a sound that hinted at a future more original sound, although it remains at hints on this release. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR Nothing is Sacred is the 6th full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Konkhra. The limited edition of the album includes a bonus CD which features The Vicious Circle (1990) and the Malgrowth (1991) demos.

The music on Nothing is Sacred is death metal with elements of thrash metal. Listening to the album it quickly becomes very apparent to me that I´m not really enjoying myself very much. The production is professional, the songs are well composed and the musicianship is pretty good too but it´s like the music on the album isn´t that inspired. I´m not feeling a burning need to change the world or maybe a little less ambitious to just crush my skull here. For music like this to work for me I have to feel that the musicians involved really believe that what they are doing is going to change the world and I´m not feeling anything here. 11 tracks of average death metal that probably won´t move anyone´s world but a few diehard fans just isn´t enough for me. Anders Lundemark´s voice has certainly seen better days too. He sounds more like a hoarse barking dog than his old growling self. When I´m more interested in the bonus CD with the old demo material than the new album something is wrong.

So I guess the positives here are that this is not as such a bad album. Songs like Religion Is A Whore and Killswitch do kick some ass, but overall this is pretty tame and average and to be honest I´m struggling to give a full 3 star rating so I guess a 2.5 star rating will do.

UMUR Weed Out the Weak is the 3rd full-length studio album by Danish death metal/ thrash metal act Konkhra. A couple of rather spectacular lineup changes have occurred since the release of Spit or Swallow (1995). Drummer Johnny Nielsen has been replaced by Chris Kontos ( Machine Head, Testament, Exodus, Attitude Adjustment...etc) and guitarist Kim Mathiesen has been replaced by James Murphy ( Obituary, Death, Disincarnate, Cancer, Testament...etc). in addition to those two spectacular changes to the lineup bassist Lars Schmidt has also been replaced by new bassist Thomas Christensen. This means that only original member left is lead vocalist/ guitarist Anders Lundemark.

The music on Weed Out the Weak has shifted even more towards groove thrash than was the case on Spit or Swallow. This is to some extent still a death metal album but it´s not nearly as brutal as its predecessors. Instead I hear obvious influences from a band like Machine Head. A thrashy groove is now a big part of the sound on the album partially thanks to Chris Kontos but also because of the riffing style. The addition of James Murphy also means that there are many more guitar solos on this album compared to its predecessors. I wouldn´t call this his best performance though. Actually I quickly get tired of this new and less brutal change in style and while the compositional quality is high throughout the songs don´t really captivate me much.

The production is not as powerful as I would have liked. I haven´t heard the 1998 re-mixed version, so that one might sound better. This original version is a bit lifeless if you ask me.

Weed Out the Weak was a step away from death metal for Konkhra and while it could have worked fine if the songs were really exciting, my opinion is that it doesn´t work very well because the songs are average at best. An average album that deserves a 3 star rating from me. I´m sure there are fans out there who´ll disagree with me, but at this point I stopped purchasing Konkhra´s albums ( that was back then. I have since listened to all subsequent albums).

UMUR Live Eraser is a live album release by Danish death metal act Konkhra. The album was recorded live at the Roskilde Festival on the 30th of June, 1995 and released by Diehard Music Worldwide in July 1996.

The album features songs from the debut album Sexual Affective Disorder (1993), the Facelift EP (1994) and the, at the time, new album Spit or Swallow (1995). The emphasis on the setlist is naturally on the songs from Spit or Swallow but all 4 tracks from the EP are also present on the setlist while only Seasonal Affective Disorder and The Dying Art from the debut album are present. The show is as such allright allthough nothing special but the sound quality is really bad and almost completely spoils my enjoyment with this album. I´ll go out on a limb here and say that this album sounds more or less like a professional bootleg. All details drown in noise and you have to be very familiar with the songs to be able to enjoy this just a little.

Live Eraser is not a very good live album IMO but it does create a special nostalgic sentiment for me as I was actually present at this very show. Young and if I remember correctly moshing like a madman to the music from a band I really enjoyed back in those days. I can´t give more than a 2 star rating though, nostalgic or not.