UMUR
"Reality Check" is the fifth full-length studio album by Danish death/thrash/groove metal act Konkhra. The album was released through Code666 Records in 2003. It´s the successor to "Come Down Cold" from 1999. There have been a couple of lineup changes since the predecessor as Konkhra are now back to the same lineup who recorded the 1994 "The Facelift EP" and the 1995 "Spit or Swallow" album (Konkhra´s second full-length studio album). As those releases are probably what most people deem Konkhra´s peak, there were great expectations to "Reality Check".
Konkhra had arguably tried (and failed) to follow and emulate the mid-90s groove/thrash metal wave of artists (especially Machine Head) on their last two studio albums (their third and fourth full-length studio albums "Weed Out the Weak" (1997) and , and "Come Down Cold" (1999)), but if you thought that they had completely ditched the groove metal leanings on "Reality Check" you would be a bit off the mark. While "Reality Check" certainly brings back more death metal to Konkhra´s sound there are as many heavy groove laden thrash metal parts featuring on the album and "Reality Check" is more rightly labelled a hybrid death metal and groove/thrash metal release.
There´s more bite and conviction behind the performances here than on the last couple of releases though, and "Reality Check" also features a decent sounding production job, which manages to bring forth the qualities of the music, so while this could have been better and one could have hoped for a more death metal oriented music style considering the lineup, "Reality Check" is still a good quality death/thrash/groove metal hybrid release. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.