Drawn and Quartered has arguably been one of the most consistent bands in US death metal over their thirty plus years of history, as their knack for fusing sheer force and more nuanced writing has resulted in a discography with some real staying power. 2018’s The One Who Lurks was my jumping point and its combination of slow grooves and frantic blasting not only stuck with me long after the first few listens but gave plenty of incentive to explore their back-catalog. 2021’s Congregation Pestilence was just as strong, giving new life to some tracks from an earlier demo alongside new ones while showcasing how tight of a unit the lineup at the time was. For album number nine, Lord of Two Horns, Azath/Draghkar’s Brandon Corsair makes his recorded debut on guitar after joining the band close to Congregation Pestilence’srelease and the group has continued to deliver some of the best death metal around.
Where albums like The One Who Lurks emphasized the slower, lumbering passages and thicker atmosphere a bit more, Lord of Two Horns feels like its following Congregation Pestilence’s lead and heading back towards some of the all-out speed and brutality of Drawn and Quarter’s earlier works. You do still get some slow-burning grooves on tracks like “The Devil’s Work is Never Done”, which give plenty of space for the guitar and bass to work together to form a thick, molasses like tone that threatens to pull you into its murkiness. But the bulk of the material favors relentless blasting that has quite a bit of substance to it beneath the brutality and weight. Opener “Black Castle Butcher” is a perfect example, as it launches right into an all-out assault where the band moves as fast as possible, but once the leads are layered over top of them there’s some eerier melodies and other elements that shake things up. Drawn and Quartered has always had this ability to take the more brutal and blasting side of death metal and add some complexity to it, switching up the rhythms and melodies to give each song more of an identity, and Lord of Two Horns continues to demonstrate just how well they can string everything together. The material is consistent all the way through, though the title track, “Into the Mouth of the Dead”, and “Three Rivers of Poison (Blasphemous Persecution)” have particular riffs and transitions that have stuck out with each listen. Lord of Two Horns’ production matches the last two albums thanks to Loic’s mixing/mastering work, giving the album a very dense and layered sound that doesn’t sacrifice too many of the details in its quest to be as intense as possible.
Herb Burke’s powerful growls have been another pillar of Drawn and Quartered’s sound throughout their career, and three decades in his vocals show no signs of dulling. His core approach is extremely low, full growls that tower over the recording with an immense presence, but there are also some dips into higher pitched at key moments that help to break things up. What stood out to me throughout Lord of Two Horns is how well Burke’s cadence matches the rest of the band, as even when they fly through riffs at a breakneck space his verses keep a similar flow that amps up the intensity even more. If you’ve heard any of their previous material you should have a good idea of what to expect here, but the consistency of the performance continues to put Drawn and Quartered above some of the other death metal bands out there.
Lord of Two Horns retains the more compact song lengths and writing of Congregation Pestilence, ensuring every moment is well utilized and crams plenty of twists and turns in while still giving the individual riffs just enough time to expand and grab your attention. It’s a bit closer to some of their earlier efforts compared to some of the more doom laden and slower burns on albums like The One Who Lurks, but the band uses to their advantage and has delivered some of the better straight up death metal I’ve heard this year. There’s something to be said for death metal like this that seems straightforward on the surface but has plenty to reveal as you spend more time with it, and that continues to make Drawn and Quartered a must listen for any genre fan. Lord of Two Horns is available from Nuclear Winter Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg