The Shape of Punk to Come: New York's HARAM Unleash Frantic Arabic-delivered, Japanese Hardcore-influenced شو بتشوف؟ "What Do You See?" EP (Toxic State Records)

"Nader Habibi is a frizzy-haired and heavily tattooed Lebanese-American from Yonkers, New York. He has a fondness for mesh tank tops, large earrings, and raging Hardcore Punk. Two days after improvised bomb attacks left New York City tense and frightened, HARAM have dropped the follow-up to their well-received 2015 DEMO," Noisey scribe Tim Scott wrote within a September 20th-published HOLY SH*T profile. Scott's of course, referring to Arab-American Punks HARAM's latest quick-strike Emil Bognar-Nasdor recorded EP, شو بتشوف؟ "What Do You See?" which is noticeably influenced by Aggro-Rap "darlings" Death Grips, Japanese Hardcore, and Toxic State Records' acclaimed Ground Zero NYC 2013 comp. While I can't exactly decipher much of frontman Nadir Habibi/Haram's blood-curdling, often bellowed Arabic lyrics (aside from English translated titles), the sentiment first echoed by The Misfits & Black Flag all the way through Rancid & Against Me! is very clearly heard throughout; with a mere eight songs released to Bandcamp clocking in at just under 20 minutes and little of an online presence, full band images—or even last names for Mike, Martin & James [Stuart]—there are, however, a number of characteristically grainy, lo-fi, and perfectly sweaty live-filmed reels of digitized footage from venues like Williamsburg Brooklyn's own The Acheron's annual New York's Alright show. HARAM's شو بتشوف؟ "What Do You See?" EP was released back in mid-September and is currently sold out on 7-inch from both Toxic State & Sorry State Records, although, it's still available for $3 or more at their Bandcamp page along with its self-explanatory predecessor, DEMO. I just wanna take a second to send a quick shout-out to Ben at Black Metal & Brews, who writes about... you guessed it: Black Metal paired with craft beer selections, for turning me onto HARAM just this past weekend!

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