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Jahanam Btistana (Hell Awaits) is the debut release by IKHRAS, a new band from Brighton and London. Five tracks of raging hardcore punk speedily exercise everything that the genre has to offer as a soundtrack to destroy colonialism. The lyrics are sung in Arabic and English, taking you on a journey of resistance against illegal occupation, religious control, western fragility and serves as an attack on ignorance rooted in liberal thinking. This is important.
Credits:
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Sam Allen & Alessandro Cogolo at Small Pond
Artwork by Sammy Hellride
Ikhras Logo by @shaghabart
Our take: Quality Control HQ brings us the debut cassette from this new UK band whose lyrics move seamlessly between Arabic and English. I think there’s a strong interest in the punk scene right now in hearing voices from Arabic-speaking and Muslim communities, and Ikhras melds that perspective to some walloping music. Ikhras is on the tougher side of the hardcore we cover at Sorry State, with a sound that’s inventive and eclectic, the powerful drummer seamlessly weaving together Cro-Mags gallop, Victim in Pain-inspired thrash, groovy I Against I-influenced parts, a touch of d-beat, and the all-important huge mosh parts. The lyrics shift between Arabic and English—not just from song to song, but sometimes line to line—and they’re super memorable, with “Enlighten Me” calling out people who wear liberal / leftist values like a cloak that hides their self-centeredness. The last track, “El Nahr,” is a climactic end to the tape, culminating in this part where the singer shouts “from the river to the sea for you I bleed” before the band drops into a huge mosh part. It’s easy to imagine a packed room full of sweaty hardcore kids all screaming that line in unison. While Ikhras’ music is a little outside Sorry State’s wheelhouse, their perspective and message make them interesting to more than just people who follow their particular style of music. I’m stoked that not only is Ikhras sharing their world with the rest of the punk scene, but that punk rock is alive and vital enough that it’s bringing new people under its tent, with those people inspired to contribute to punk’s social, aesthetic, and musical evolution.