I won’t lie. As much as I pride myself on being musically openminded I expect truth in and from the musicians I listen to and strive to be authentic above all in my own work. You’ll never see me sporting a Harley Davidson shirt. You know why? I do not own a Harley Davidson. Don’t slap a Viking helmet on your dome and sing about Lindisfarne if you’re from bloody Croatia, and if your band members are going to wear CELTIC FROST and NEUROSIS shirts in your promo photos, I’d better hear you at least trying to inject some of the badassery of both into your tunes.
Australia’s ORATORY apparently had an album of songs ready pre-pandemic, but put them on the backburner, so what we have with Inner Pyre is the quartet’s first EP as a fully functional band. Given the obvious Apocalyptic Raids-inspired cover art, I will say I was not expecting the OBITUARY lurch of opener ‘Capitulation Genuflect’, which soon enough slipped a bit of ENTOMBED post-Same Difference in, death ‘n’ rolling right along, the vocalist clearly a devotee of L-G Petrov style gurgling/shouting tactic.
The title track moves in a clear hardcore direction, but snatches reminded me of NIRVANA’s ‘Breed’, a move I’m sure wasn’t intentional on the band’s part. Still, not unpleasing to the ear, and considering what a headbanger Dave Grohl used to be before wussing out on all things aggro, still legitimate.
‘It Takes A Toll’ flirts with MOTORHEAD by way of VARUKERS, and there’s the patented Tom G. Warrior “Unh!” I’d been eagerly awaiting. COFFINS’ faster material is also a reference point and, though Inner Pyre is nothing we haven’t heard before it doesn’t necessarily have to be in order to be worthwhile. Hopefully this little band from Brisbane gets some traction, because it seems ORATORY’s heart’s in the right place.
Review By: Lord Randall
ORATORY
Inner Pyre [EP]
Independent
3 / 6