Review: “Inner Pyre” by Oratory

Recorded and mixed over the course of seven gruelling months between May and November 2021 at Eternity Ward Studios, debut EP “Inner Pyre” from Brisbane Australian Death dealers Oratory is nothing if not a labour of love. Fortunately they could rely upon bassist and backup vocalist Ben Thomson for the engineering and mixing of the record, allowing Nathan Chow (vocals, lead guitars), Paul Barnes (guitars, backing vocals) and Brett James (drums) to do what they do best before Jack Control at Enormous Door Mastering (Darkthrone, Final Conflict, Frozen Soul) did the rest. Known for their love for Japanese Hardcore bands like Death Slide and Forward as well as the perhaps more traditional Sepultura and Entombed, the quartet have created a collection of hymns outlining the darker parts of humanity’s psyche and the mounting bleakness for all the grief life throws you.

A Molotov cocktail of furious Sludge infused Death Metal and Hardcore with a huge and yet still slightly raw sound, “Inner Pyre” is a brutal collection of cuts that have an abundance of headbangable groove at their beating black heart. “Capitulation Genuflect” sounds like the bastard child of Crowbar, Motorhead and Dismember with chunky powerhouse riffs accompanied by the brutal bark of Chow, a demon summoning you to the pit. The momentary lapse after the opening salvo is perfectly executed and well placed before the sheer crush of the weight of the bands sound takes hold with sinister riffs and huge percussion. While Oratory aren’t doing anything that you may not have heard before, what they are doing has style, grace and charm, the stripped back thunderous sound refreshing in the current wave of more technical and complex bands. The title track then increases the tempo and the raw intensity that batters the senses as the inner turmoil is spilled, anxiety fuelling hostility as violence begets violence in the ultimate vicious circle. Its another powerhouse performance with ferocious vocals that perhaps has more personal meaning than the lyrics give away as it brings things to the boil nicely for the slick rising leads of “It Takes A Toll” before it transitions in to an extended dark instrumental melody of sinister intent. A battering of senses across a trio of blunt force trauma inducing creations, this is the Sludge Metal equivalent of a tectonic plate shift [7/10]

Track listing

1. Capitulation Genuflect
2. Inner Pyre
3. It Takes A Toll

“Inner Pyre” by Oratory is out 16th May 2022 and is available over at bandcamp.