UMUR
Sexual Affective Disorder is the debut full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Konkhra. The album was released on the Progress Red Labels in July 1993. Sexual Affective Disorder was recorded at the now legendary Sunlight Studio in Sweden and produced by Tomas Skogsberg & Konkhra. Konkhra had been roaming the Danish underground scene since the early nineties and steadily increased their fanbase with the The Vicious Circle demo from 1990 and the Malgrowth demo from 1991. Their first official release was the Stranded EP which was released in 1992.
The music on Sexual Affective Disorder is old school death metal mixed with technical thrash metal elements. This album is actually the most technically accomplished album Konkhra have made so far as they opted for a more simple groove oriented style on subsequent albums. The vocals on the album are influenced by the high pitched sneer/ deep guttural growl Carcass vocal style, which means that you have two vocalists who compliment each other on most tracks. Seldom have I heard this pulled off as powerful as here. The vocals on this album are very aggressive and brutal. As mentioned the songs are pretty technical but the technical playing never overshadows power, so don´t think this is what you normally would call technical death metal. Rather the technical playing is used to keep the songs exciting all the way through the album. There are tons of little details in every song which makes this a an album where I never lose focus. Songs like Center Of The Flesh, Blindfolded, Chaos To Climb and Empty Frames simply blow me away every time I listen to this album. The addition of samples in some songs also give the album a great atmosphere. There are samples from porn movies with moaning woman, a woman talking about her dirty fantasies and correct me if I´m wrong but I think I hear a couple of samples from Francis Ford Coppola´s Dracula movie too.
The production is raw and not too polished but clean enough to be able to hear what´s going on.
Sexual Affective Disorder has always been my favorite Konkhra album and it´s the album by the band that I always recommend that people listen to. As mentioned above subsequent albums would lose the technical edge which I find so enjoyable about this album and in addition to that Claus Vedel, who delivers the high pitched sneering vocals on the album, left Konkhra after the release of this album. Personally I really think it´s a shame that the band didn´t continue down this path but it´s a matter of taste and listening to the excellent Sexual Affective Disorder is always a great comfort. A fully deserved 4 star rating. Oh and by the way check out the cover artwork which was painted by Danish artist Michael Kvium. Really suiting the album title well IMO.