The Last Dinner Party From The Pyre
The Last Dinner Party's From The Pyre arrives as an operatic, often aching statement of intent that finds the band stretching their baroque-theatrical palette while sharpening moments of intimate songwriting. Across professional reviews critics consistently point to a handful of tracks as the record's true breakthroughs, and the consensus suggests that those high points make the album worth attention even when maximalism threatens to overwhelm restraint.
Critics agree the album earned a 79.7/100 consensus score across 10 professional reviews, a reflection of both admiration for the group's ambition and occasional frustration with overindulgence. Reviewers repeatedly name “Agnus Dei”, “The Scythe” and “Second Best” among the best songs on From The Pyre, praising “Agnus Dei” as a dazzling, Broadway-tinged opener, “The Scythe” as the record's emotional fulcrum—a stripped, devastating ballad—and “Second Best” for its euphoric, choral sweep. Other frequent highlights include “This Is The Killer Speaking” and “I Hold Your Anger”, which critics cite for narrative daring and maternal, anthemic power respectively. Professional reviews note recurring themes of grief, maternal instinct, gothic imagery and cinematic production, framing the album as both mature and theatrically ambitious.
While several critics celebrate the band's sonic growth and songwriting craftsmanship, some reviews register a loss of the raw live spark that defined earlier work, calling parts of the record pompous or overblown. This mixed-but-leaning-positive reception positions From The Pyre as a bold, occasionally flawed leap forward in The Last Dinner Party's catalogue, a collection whose standout tracks offer enough emotional clarity and melodic ambition to merit repeated listens and further critical discussion.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
The Scythe
7 mentions
"the jewel in the album’s crown is ‘The Scythe’"— DIY Magazine
Agnus Dei (production mention)
1 mention
"The record opens in glorious, theatrical fashion with "Agnus Dei,""— Under The Radar
I Hold Your Anger
6 mentions
""Hold Your Anger" simmers and expands into something subtly majestic"— Under The Radar
the jewel in the album’s crown is ‘The Scythe’
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Agnus Dei
Count The Ways
Second Best
This is the Killer Speaking
Rifle
Woman is a Tree
I Hold Your Anger
Sail Away
The Scythe
Inferno
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 11 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Measured and often rueful, The Last Dinner Party’s From The Pyre finds its best tracks where the theatrics fall away — notably “The Scythe” and “Sail Away”. Ray Finlayson writes with a sceptical admiration, praising the plainfaced meditation of “The Scythe” and the stripped-back beauty of “Sail Away”. He still concedes there is fun to be had in dramatic moments like “Second Best” and “Agnus Dei”, but the album repeatedly loses the band’s live spark in the studio. The review frames the record as admirable in ambition but lacking the defining sparkle that made their debut sing.
Key Points
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“The Scythe” is the best song because its plain, direct delivery lets Morris's vocals and the song's meditation on grief land genuinely.
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The album's core strength is theatrical ambition and strong vocals, but production choices mute the band's defining spark.
Themes
Critic's Take
A few tracks on From The Pyre genuinely sing, and it is on those songs that The Last Dinner Party feels most alive. The reviewer singles out “Second Best” for its Tom Verlaine-esque guitar flourishes and praises “This Is The Killer Speaking” as the album's high-water mark, a swaggering country-tinged barnstormer. “The Scythe” is noted as a beautiful ballad that hints at a promising new direction, while tracks like “Rifle” and “Woman Is A Tree” are criticised for pomposity and heavy-handedness. Overall the best tracks on From The Pyre are identified clearly - listen for “This Is The Killer Speaking”, “Second Best” and “The Scythe”.
Key Points
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The best song is "This Is The Killer Speaking" because it is described as a swaggering, country-tinged barnstormer and the album's high-water mark.
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The album's core strengths are accomplished musicianship and occasional thrilling guitar moments, offset by overwrought theatricality and inconsistent songwriting.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Last Dinner Party sound more assured on From The Pyre, and the best songs - notably “The Scythe” and “Agnus Dei” - show them at full theatrical and emotional force. The reviewer praises how “Agnus Dei” opens gloriously and how “The Scythe” might be their best song to date, combining intimacy and sweep. There is also high regard for “Rifle” and “Woman Is a Tree”, which trade bombast for cinematic subtlety. Overall the album is hailed as bolder and deeper than their debut, a record of crafted songs that rarely misstep.
Key Points
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The Scythe is the standout because it combines personal emotional depth with sweeping composition.
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The album’s core strengths are theatrical songwriting, cinematic production, and controlled ambition.
Themes
Critic's Take
In her precise, celebratory register Rhian Daly treats The Last Dinner Party's From The Pyre as a darker, more developed continuation of their baroque-pop thrust. She singles out the aching centerpiece “The Scythe” and the choral pop of “Second Best” as the record's most affecting moments, and notes how character-led vignettes like “This Is The Killer Speaking” and “Rifle” push the band into bolder storytelling. The tone is admiring rather than breathless, framing the best tracks on From The Pyre as daring, dashing songs of true depth that broaden their world rather than rewrite it.
Key Points
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The Scythe is the album’s most affecting track because it intertwines a breakup with the death of Morris’s father and delivers a solemn, sparkling chorus.
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The album’s core strength is its theatrical, character-led storytelling that deepens the band’s baroque-pop world with darker, dramatic vignettes.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Last Dinner Party’s From The Pyre is a dizzyingly dense record that often favours maximalism over straightforward tunefulness, but its best songs cut through that clutter. In particular, “I Hold Your Anger” emerges as the album’s clearest triumph, a "beautiful (and still stompingly anthemic)" brooding exploration of maternal instinct that proves the band can really sing. Elsewhere, moments such as “Second Best” and the baroque, Kate Bush-flavoured passages provide memorable flashes, even if much of the album indulges in cerebral, elaborate pop. For listeners searching for the best songs on From The Pyre, start with “I Hold Your Anger” and then probe the theatrical excesses that define the record.
Key Points
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I Hold Your Anger is the best song because restraint lets melodic power and emotional clarity shine.
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The album’s strength is its elaborate, baroque approach, though maximalism sometimes undermines simple melodic pleasure.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Last Dinner Party continue to astonish on From The Pyre, where the best songs - notably “Agnus Dei” and “Inferno” - crystallise their flair for dramatic, hook-laden arrangements. The reviewer's voice celebrates the band’s knack for compact, ambitious songwriting, pointing to “Agnus Dei” as an irresistible opener and “Inferno” as a towering, melodically rich closer. There is also praise for the theatrical cross-genre risks, such as the country-meets-Queen flourish on “This Is The Killer Speaking” and the folk-chant swing of “Woman Is A Tree”, which together show why listeners search for the best songs on From The Pyre. The tone remains emphatic and admiring throughout, making clear that these tracks represent the album’s strengths rather than mere highlights.
Key Points
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The best song, 'Agnus Dei', is best because it encapsulates the band’s compact, ambitious songwriting and irresistible hooks.
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The album’s core strengths are its harmonised vocals, theatrical arrangements, and concise yet grand songwriting.
Themes
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Critic's Take
The Last Dinner Party's From The Pyre bristles with theatrical ambition and pop craft, and the reviewer keeps returning to a handful of showstoppers as the album's best songs. “Agnus Dei” is flagged as a dazzling showcase of impeccable vocal arrangements, while arena-ready anthems like “Second Best” and “Inferno” embody the band's lusty thespian rock. The penultimate “The Scythe” is singled out as the record's emotional fulcrum, a powerful rumination on grief that manages to feel both devastating and life-affirming. Overall, the review presents these tracks as the best on From The Pyre, credited to a unified band sound that turns small-room ideas into big Broadway strokes.
Key Points
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The Scythe is the album's emotional centerpiece because it balances devastation and affirmation.
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The album's core strength is theatrical, unified bandcraft that turns small-room ideas into big-hearted anthems.
Themes
Critic's Take
In a voice that still loves theatrical flourish, The Last Dinner Party’s From The Pyre stakes its claim with moments of real grandeur. The review lingers on the best songs - “Agnus Dei” as a bold opener, “Second Best” for its euphoric, crystalline choir, and especially “The Scythe” which the writer calls the jewel in the album’s crown - each track evidencing the band reaching further into mythological, lived material. The tone is celebratory and assured, insisting these are the best tracks on From The Pyre because they balance melodrama, melody and unsettling harmonies in equal measure.
Key Points
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“The Scythe” is best for its shift from melancholy gothic rock to a soaring, instantly addictive chorus.
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The album’s core strengths are theatrical melodrama, richer themes, and confident, mythological songwriting.
Themes
Critic's Take
In a voice that refuses to pander, The Last Dinner Party use From The Pyre to stake a claim as modern mainstays, with the best songs proving the point. The opener “Agnus Dei” sets a brooding, connective tone while the single “This Is The Killer Speaking” delivers folksy, violent storytelling that sticks. Heartbreak arrives in “Sail Away” and raw passion fuels “Count The Ways”, making these best tracks on From The Pyre the album's emotional and theatrical centerpieces. The band sounds fresher and more daring here, and those standout moments show why these are the best tracks on the record.
Key Points
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The opener "Agnus Dei" is best for setting a dark, connective atmosphere that unifies the album.
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The album's strengths are its operatic, dramatic scope, tightened sequencing, and emotional vocal performances.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Last Dinner Party sound as sublime and theatrical as ever on From The Pyre, where the best songs - notably “Agnus Dei” and “The Scythe” - crystallize the album's drama and hooks. The reviewer's relish for Abigail Morris's vocals threads through picks like “Agnus Dei” with its Broadway-ready delivery and the stoic spaciousness of “The Scythe”, both of which exemplify how Pyre balances spectacle and restraint. Praise for the band's knack for mythic tableaux and confessional narratives supports queries about the best tracks on From The Pyre without overstating their occasional excess. The result is a fiercely ambitious record whose standout moments keep the listener engrossed.
Key Points
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The best song, notably "Agnus Dei", showcases Morris’s theatrical lead vocal and melodic guitar lines that crystallize the album’s drama.
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The album’s core strengths are its theatricality, strong hooks, and skillful balancing of spectacle with restrained instrumentation.