Haram

***HARAM returns powerfully with their second full-length, Drescher. Now with three guitarists, the band takes a decidedly spacious approach with this nine-song album that looms and hovers. The quintet now presents pieces that are more fluid and varied in their approach; Haram's latest work supplements their grinding, early material with a technique that is anxious to meander around and explore a terrain informed by brooding melancholy and wry observation. Unrelenting and forward, Drescher shows Haram possessing a mature, tempered confidence that only comes with experience and do-it-yourself resolve. Part of this new exploration lies in Haram's newfound vocal diversity. After the first full-length, the band took a much-needed break and wrote new songs while reworking old ones with a new bass player and an additional guitarist. Currently with four vocalists at the helm, Haram's Drescher is an ambiguous, collaborative display. Where Drescher had the potential to be a sloppy, non-cohesive effort by committee, instead it present a group with intriguing facets. Drescher is an purposeful mosaic of driving rumble, dissonant pop, and tuneful dirges; it's a work intent on equipping listeners with some ways to navigate through unexpected moments that may seem jarring or dissimilar to others around them.