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Konkhra have a weird name and a long but kind of uneven history. They go way back to 1990 but this is only their seventh full-length in almost 30 years, and their first album in a decade. A lot of people really only have heard of this band because guitar hero James Murphy played on a few of their discs back in the day, even though he was never actually a member of the band.

This is sharp, tight, refreshingly heavy Death Metal. I expected a degree of technicality, but they don't really lean on that aspect too hard. Mostly this is about pummeling, precise riffs with syncopated rhythms that really get your head banging. The vocals are a deep-voiced bellow that retains some intelligibility, so it's not just noise. There's nothing on this album you have not heard before on some other Death Metal album, but it's done well and executed with real conviction.