History & Biography Formed as Vicious Circle in November of 1988 the band lead by singer/guitarist Vedel and singer/guitarist Anders Lundemark switched to the more original Konkhra in 1990. The band issued the Vicious Circle (1989) and Malgrowth (November 1991) demos during this period. The demos attracted the attention of local label Progress Red Labels and an EP called Stranded appeared in 1992. The EP was supported through a tour with Fear Factory and Brutal Truth. The band sold well with its first two full-lengths, but a change of line-up in the mid-'90s had the opposite effect - despite the introduction of several well-known American musicians. Founder Vedel would go on to form a video production company and later work with Konkhra again. The band’s earlier line-up recorded its appearance at the Roskilde Festival and turned it into the Live Eraser album. Johnny Nielsen and Kim Mathiesen branched off to form Facelift. Weed Out The Weak, and more blatantly Come Down Cold, showcased a change of sound away from death metal to heavy rock. Weed Out The Weak was recorded partially in America. The band would describe itself annoyingly as death 'n roll. The band’s progress was hampered by departing members, decreasing interests, cancelled tours and an operation to remove kidney stones from Anders Lundemark.
Reality Check appeared on Code666 label. A headlining tour followed, but Mathiesen and Nielsen quit again and the band went into renewed hiatus. In early 2007 the group lost much of the recordings for its next album due to drive failures and was rerecording the material. James Murphy was contributing leads and recording parts of the album in Florida. The band/Anders signed with Denmark’s Target Distribution in late 2008 for the release of its sixth album, Nothing Is Sacred. The album dealt in large part with the then-recent controversy surrounding the publishing of images of Islam’s prophet Muhammad by Danish newspapers.
Konkhra lost bassist Lars Schmidt in September of 2009. The band was searching for a replacement. Bassists could email info@konkhra.com to contact the Danish band. The band instead went into hibernation. Hammerheart would reissue several Konkhra albums in 2017.
Reviews KONKHRA - WEED OUT THE WEAK - DIEHARD
Konkhra boss Anders Lundemark wants this Danish band to sound like Machine Head and hopefully along the way get some of the sales (but not the royalties) that the Americans have achieved. Why else would he recruit ex-Machine Head drummer Chris Kontos from the USA? It certainly isn't due to Kontos' amazing abilities. He has next to none. Regardless of the fact that most of Machine Head's success was due to the power of Roadrunner's hype juggernaut, the album really hasn't turned out as a MH copycat and as such isn't really awful. However, it isn't good either. The songs plod along one after the other like some frail old locomotive going through the motions. The leads of guitar nomad James Murphy are technically superior, yet wholly uninspiring and something less than heavy. The label states that Murphy wanted to return to more aggressive music, but I submit to you that Testament's last studio offering (featuring Murphy) was more aggressive than anything on this album. All in all then, by virtue of having released a so-so album Konkhra has its weakest album to date on its hands. Although songs like The Reckoning and Misery have some power. Diehard's insistence that this Konkhra puts back the power into metal is a gross exaggeration. The people should ask the court to instruct Mr. Lundemark to either weed out this weak effort and resurrect the real Konkhra or work on another Daemon album. - Ali "The Metallian"
KONKHRA - THE FREAKSHOW EP - DIEHARD
Well Diehard doesn't really expect you to buy this; it's just a taster for the up coming full length Come Down Cold due out this September. But the rock'n roll riffs are amusing enough to review. So we shall. First off to make things clear there is no photo of James Murphy on this CD, as he was not, is not and will never be a member of this or any other band. Whoever pays his wages, he'll be there. It's simple as that. So what do we get for our time? Three original songs which like an anthropological clock work emulate Entombed's post-metal riffs, plus two covers. The fillers being Motorhead's Orgasmatron and Iron Maiden's Prowler. It's slow, brooding and that rhymes with another adjective no one wants to be associated with. Take a guess. - Ali "The Metallian"
KONKHRA - COME DOWN COLD - DIEHARD
Denmark and Diehard's biggest hope has gone through the label's biggest budgetary expenditure and come out with what they hope will be a huge success. Listening to the new album I truly doubt that these hopes will be fulfilled. I am sure this type of quasi-Metallica-meets-Machine Head stuff has its fan base, but it isn't anyone I know. To make matters worse, the band has gone out and wasted money on two things. The first is their big budget/ big name producer who in the tradition of Metallibore or Morbid Angel manages to simulate a third rate eight track sound. It is oh so muffled. The second is their new 'best in Denmark' drummer who is inKredibly boring. His monotonous drumming is quite weak. Again, this was not going to be my cup of iced tea anyway, but even I had expected a little more from this. - Ali "The Metallian"
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