Koresh - Chump

The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this cover was "Wow, My Little Pony's gone satanic!". Before you say it, I know they're unicorns but seen as they're related to horses, the above statement is valid. Anyway, this is my third reviews in my week long series looking at the latest releases from some of the UK's own extreme bands (fourth if you count my earlier review featuring hardcore band Castellan). I'd not really heard of Koresh until I read that Witch Hunter Records were releasing their CD in association with  Withered Hand Records. Earlier in the year, I'd signed up for their Order Of Zealots deal, so this was one of my picks and believe me, the packaging for this CD is brilliant!

For those that don't know, Koresh hail from London and play a sludgy, hardcore-influenced strand of heavy metal, quickly too!

Tracklist:-

1. StraightEdge Till Morning
2. Wogan
3. Cheer Up Glasgow
4. Bin Juice
5. Adolf Hipster
6. Shitbird

7. You Can Call Me Gaahl

As I said above, Koresh don't hang about. Only one of the seven songs on Chump manages to punch through the two-minute mark. They also have a sense of humour, as their song-titles attest. Opening up with StraightEdge Till Midnight, you get greeted with ringing feedback and a song with plenty of rock n roll swagger. The vocals are vicious though and the mixture of full-throttle hardcore and thick sludge sets the stall out early. Wogan starts with a spoken word sampler before going into a maddening mid-paced stomp. One thing you'll notice with Chump is that the production is pretty rough and ready, which actually suits it. Thankfully you're still able to hear some of the more subtle melodies underneath the bass-rumble. I wonder if Cheer Up Glasgow is a dig! Either way, it's a grimy, sloth-like dirge for the first forty seconds before Koresh hits back with more ferocious hardcore noise. The more the vocals worm their way into your ears, the more vicious they sound.

Bin Juice is not nice, it's rancid. This song is pretty rancid too, but in a good way. It features some awesome riffs buried in the mix. Adolf Hipster keeps the squalid momentum going, as the snare blasts away and competes for your ears alongside deep-bass and screaming treble in the verses, before everything settles down mid-way through as Koresh groove their way toward the end. Shitbird is the longest song on Chump, but it's far from a progressive rock-opera. It's more mid-paced than previous songs but it retains that signature sound. The jazzy guitar is the song adds a sense of variation and quality too the song as well. It's always good to hear a little bit of instrumental expression from a band. This is the song title that made me chuckle the most - You Can Call Me Gaahl. Don't know why, it just did. The song itself is one final blast of intense hardcore. There's some nice ambience in the background, but it doesn't quite have the impact due to the bass-heavy production.  

This is one for people that like their music raw and heavy. It's got a pretty unique sound and Koresh are very adept musicians. I really enjoyed it because of that rawness to be honest.

You can listen to Chump in it's entirety via Witch Hunter's bandcamp page:-

You can get Chump as a pay-what-you-want download from the above bandcamp page, but if you want the physical CD, you can get from Witch Hunter Records at http://witchhunterrecords.bigcartel.com/.

Koresh Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/crippledriver