Published on Nov 29, 2000
There are times in this job where I pray to God that I’ll never
have to listen to a disc again… then I shudder as I put it back
in the CD player to try and catch some nuance I might have missed
the first few times through.
In the case of the Portugese prog-metal band Oratory, I don’t
think I’ll ever be able to shake some of the memories of their disc
Illusion Dimensions… unless I put a bullet through my
skull, that is. This is a band who once in a while show a flash of
promise, but otherwise tread on the carcasses of those bands who
came before them while trying to find their own voice. Too bad they
get lost in the woods early on.
Oratory tries to stand out in the crowd by alternating male and
female lead vocals throughout the disc. Maybe such a concept would
have worked if Ana Lara had a little bit stronger of a set of
pipes, and Marco Alves had the vocal charisma such a stunt would
need. The way things are at this moment in Oratory’s career, such a
vocal switcheroo is a little more distracting than
awe-inspiring.
And while we’re ranting about things, will someone please tell
drummer João Rodrigues that just because he knows how to
play double kick-drum doesn’t mean that it fits this style of
music? Occasionally, when I heard this kick in behind Miguel
Gomes’s guitar work (which needs a bit more bite or flash, I’m not
sure which), I started to think I was listening to Viking metal…
and I am no big fan of Viking metal.
Musically, Oratory doesn’t seem to quite know where they want to
go. There are signs that they want to be a metal band, but they
also seem to want to grab the brass ring of popularity. What ends
up happening is that tracks like “With Glory And Melody,” “Metal
Messenger” and “Life In Another Star” lose a lot of the punch they
could have had with a little more meat in the instrumentation.
And sometimes it’s a combination of the songwriting and Alves’s
singing style that is a track’s downfall. Take “Kingdom’s Legacy”
— please. I had no idea what the hell he was saying in the chorus
until I read the lyric sheet — and even after that, it was almost
like he was singing stereo instructions. The constant repetition of
this chorus only served to insure that, no matter how hard I try,
I’m not going to be able to get this damn song out of my head…
and I want it out,
now
.
Illusion Dimensions is a disc that I’m certain Oratory is
proud of, and I’m sure they worked really hard to create the music
contained on this disc of plastic and aluminum. But to say that
this is a disc I could recommend to people is, well, an
illusion.