IGNARUS – Ignarus

Is Grunge back again? At least the guys from Ignarus seem to think so … and maybe they are not way off in their thought process, because they have made a pretty decent Grunge album. Or maybe one should say, they have made an extension of the Alice In Chains’ Jar Of Flies album.

The whole album sounds scarily like the late Layne Staley (R.I.P.) and Alice In Chains from their early days. That’s a good thing, but unfortunately all the songs have the same sound and the same feel, and knowing Alice In Chains, it all sounds too familiar.

Ignarus, hailing from Philadelphia, U.S.A., consist of the two guys; Kevin Showmaker on vocals and guitar and Dominic Vigilante on drums. Even if it’s just the two, they have managed to sound like a five man band on the album, which is quite an accomplishment in and of itself.

Showmaker has the same real soreness in his voice as Staley had, and plays his guitar and bass so hard it almost gives you that feeling of the dentist really going at it on your cavities. Vigilante, with his inventive drumwork, compliments Showmakers thundering riffs perfectly.

Especially the first song, “Know It All,” and song number five, “Shattered Life,” show the best potential of Ignarus, while “Sunken Low” is the most boring song on this 10 track album, with a strange attempt of rapping at the end of the song. “Stranger’s Eyes” does stand out as a somewhat annoying song at first because of the on-going refrain “Here I am, There you are, eating with the dogs, time has come, time has gone, stuck behind the 8 ball,” but seems, after listening to the album a few times, that this song has the propensity to stick to your brain like glue and probably has the biggest hit potential.

Philly legend, Tony “The Train” Caruso, has produced Ignarus’ self-titled debut album released on LITO Records. Even if this production isn’t top notch, it’s hard to avoid how incredibly tight these two guys play, especially since they haven’t played together all that long.

This is definitely a band that would be well-suited to jamming in smaller clubs around the world, and they seem to have already started out well with great reviews in the U.S.A. But, as far as pronouncing them as a new Alice in Chains and hoping for a new grunge era, the reality of it is that that train has passed.