IRATA have been around since 2007, yet here we are with only their fourth full-length. Seven years have passed since Tower, and Human doesn’t sound like a band desperately trying to make up for lost time. Quite the opposite, actually. These eight songs take their time, sometimes to a fault, but there’s enough going on between the bass, drums and those hazy guitar passages to keep me interested.
Jon Case’s bass is a big part of why this works. It has that fat, slightly nasty tone that makes you want to turn the volume up another notch, and Jason Ward’s drumming gives the riffs room to breathe without letting them drift off into nowhere. The guitar isn’t always there to deliver the big moment, either. Sometimes it just hangs around in the background, adding another layer of noise while the rhythm section gets on with the business. There’s plenty of that old alternative-rock spirit in here, too. Think back to when heavy music could be melodic, weird and dirty without somebody having to stick a dozen genre labels on it.
“Seeds” is the one I’d come back to first. It’s got a proper hook, but the band doesn’t polish away the roughness to make it stick. The heavier parts and the vocal melody sit together nicely, and there’s a lovely sway to the whole thing. I can understand why someone who’s followed IRATA for years would be pleased with this album; they haven’t thrown away what made the band work in the first place, but they’re not just recycling Tower, either.
Things get more spacious as the record goes on. “Slipped” takes a different route, and “Daystar” gets seven and a half minutes to stretch its legs at the end. I’m usually happy to let a good band take its time, though I wouldn’t argue that every passage here needs quite as much of it. There are moments when the atmosphere hangs around longer than the song really needs. Still, I’d rather have that than a record where every riff is shoved at you like it’s trying to win an argument.
Human isn’t going to change the face of heavy rock, and it doesn’t need to. I hear a band comfortable enough with its own sound to let the songs wander a bit, with bass-heavy grooves and vocal melodies that don’t disappear behind the fuzz. Not every moment hits equally hard, but the album has enough personality to earn its place in the rotation. I’ll take that.
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Released by Small Stone Recordings on July 10th, 2026
