### Ira: The syndrome of decline

#### 10/04/13 || BamaHammer

That tingling you feel around your anus is just your Italian band sensor going off. Never fear, though, for Ira is in fact decent. These four dudes from Milan aren’t great or even good, really, but they’re definitely decent. “The syndrome of decline” is their first full-length, and what they do is some fairly straightforward melodic death metal with a few attempts at being proggy peppered in for effect.

The guitars sound soaking wet for some reason, and they love doubling riffs an octave higher. Blind Guardian would be proud. The drumming is fairly simple with a few predictable time changes thrown into every song, but Alessandro Caruso does a good job of keeping a firm foundation under everything despite an utter lack of speed or excitement. The bassist, Euro Ribigini, is probably my favorite part of this package. His parts are actually really groovy underneath every song, and he’s just high enough in the mix to be heard.

The guitars and vocals are where this album can’t cut the mustard. You’ve heard these styles before a thousand times. It’s just not very interesting and it fatally flaws an otherwise decent album. If it was still 2003 (and it’s a shame it’s not), this album would actually be a lot better than it is.

5/10: Maybe next time, amici.