Remember these guys? At one point in the mid-1990s Denmark’s Konkhra was on the very cusp of international metal stardom. As nu-metal exploded and death metal was selling out/transitioning to more commercial groovy sounds (Gorefest, Grave, Obituary, Entombed, Mercyless, Dismember, etc), Konkhra capitalized on this. And with albums like Sexual Affect Disorder, Spit or Swallow they were a growing force in European death metal. One could argue the current chunky ‘Danish’ sound, is rooted in Konkhra in some way or another

They arguably peaked with 1997s Weed Out the Weak, when James Murphy joined the band (who didn’t he join in the 90s?), spots on Head Bangers Ball, huge tours, and deals with Nuclear Blast. Admittedly they were basically a Death Metal Machine Head at the time, but then, it was fire. I still have a soft spot for Weed Out the Week, with songs like “Crown of the Empire” and “Through My Veins”, but as more brutal death metal made a comeback ( Thanks Nile!), they fizzled out with a few more albums, that I doubt any of you recall (Come Down Cold, Reality Check).

The band never went on a lengthy hiatus and remained active with albums in 2009 (Nothing is Sacred) and Alpha and the Omega in 2019. But if you are like me, you probably had no idea they were still around. Well, founder Anders Lundemark, and some of the original chaps are back at it again with The Sad Plight of Lucifer, and I decided to check the promo out with a sense of nostalgic curiosity, probably the same reason you clicked on this review, am I right?

So, thankfully Sad Plight of Lucifer isn’t bad. It’s not fantastic either. It’s solid, bordering on pretty good. It is probably an album that no one was really clamoring for, but it does have a few tasty riffs strewn around as the band still plies a form of groove-based Machine Head-ish Danish death/thrash metal. Lundemark has a gruff shout, the production is clean and heavy, and the grooves are still pretty entertaining, but they won’t be recreating their peak era with any of the songs on Sad Plight of Lucifer.

Early on, the Machine Head hue is immediately apparent when the title track kicks in and for the third, Middle Eastern-styled track “Seven Plagues”. “Revolution” is sandwiched in there with a more urgent thrashier number that’s pretty fun as are standout tracks “Nothing Can Save You” and crunchy ‘The Fourth Key of Solomon”.

After a mid-album interlude on “August.6 1945”, “Artificial Sun” delivers the album’s most furious pure death metal track and “Magic” a thrashy/groovy number that hits pretty hard. “Resurrection Machine” brings back those Machine Head vibes with a mid-paced bruiser before the thrashier “Gates of Paradise”, which could be a Dew-Scented song. The album ends with the varied and moodier, but forgetful “Tentacles of Madness”, and I am at the point where my attention is waning, and wondering what the long-term prospects are for the album even with some fine tunes here and there.

I selfishly wanted this album to be terrible so I could shoehorn in a smug ‘Sad Plight of Konkhra‘ reference in the review, but as it stands the album is actually pretty decent and has some good moments that remind me why they were almost a huge deal in the 90s.

[Visit the band's website]

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