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Declaration of War is the third album from Italy's Iron Jaws (How many band names start with "iron" you ask? I got to 26 and that was through the second word starting with "c" before I gave up, so a lot). I reviewed their second album, Guilty of Ignorance, back in 2013 and gave it a 4.25/5 but this new one isn't going to make it over that bar. This band still plays speedy, thrashy metal with vocals close to the edge of extreme but the influences of Overkill and Exciter I picked up on Guilty really aren't present on Declaration. It's more of a heavy/thrash hybrid than the speed metal of its predecessor with vocals much closer (perhaps over the line in spots) to death metal. There are almost no wild screams or anything resembling clean singing anywhere. The songwriting isn't as memorable either, with none of the songs having the instantaneous catchiness I remember from Guilty of Ignorance. There's almost a Pantera vibe running through Declaration of War (that is not meant as an insult, just a fact) and not even the cover of Metal Church's "Ton of Bricks" leaves much of an impression even after several listens.

I felt like Guilty of Ignorance went in direction not a lot of bands go and that gave it a fresher sound whereas Declaration of War sounds like a lot of modern thrash records and as a result is on the generic side. The sound is good and the band can play, but the dreaded "you've heard this a hundred times before" applies.