Drawn And Quartered – Lord Of Two Horns Review

I should have reviewed this thing a few weeks ago, but better late than never. 

I’m not perfect. 

Stop judging me. 

Wait, were you foaming at the mouth for another Blizzard of Jozzsh review? That’s very sweet of you. 

I’ve covered a plethora of black metal this year, but my beloved death metal has unfortunately been neglected. Until now. And to refrain from burying the lede, I must say, Drawn and Quartered somehow continue to age like a fine medieval wine—something quite difficult to achieve in comparison to fellow ‘90s OSDM practitioners. Of course, there are exceptions, like a Cannibal Corpse, for example. 

Nonetheless, Drawn and Quartered maintain a similar level of consistency to their literal cross-country counterparts. The Seattle-based band is now nine full-lengths into their careers but perhaps just dropped their finest material in nearly 20 years—at least since Hail Infernal Darkness. 

Lord of Two Horns is a power-puncher with endless stamina. For its majority, it’s downright fassssssstttttt. But that’s no surprise, given the band’s track record. Similar to how the aforementioned Hail Infernal Darkness throws an Iron Mike Tyson-ish haymaker right out of the gate with “Procession of Pain,” Lord of Two Horns catches you like a quick uppercut to the noggin with “Black Castle Butcher.” Trigger-happy work behind the kit, OSDM tremolo riffing, and primitive death metal vocals intertwine like early Incantation and Immolation with sprinkles of Cannibal Corpse. While we’re at it, the influences run deep. “Into the Mouth of the Dead” is especially reminiscent of something off Diabolical Conquest, and “Three Rivers of Poison (Blasphemous Persecution)” is consumed with Trey Azagthoth-inspired riffage. 

All of this isn’t to say what Drawn and Quartered are doing is totally novel. However,  they ARE tastefully dousing their tunes with the blood of the genre’s greats: no true ripoffs, just continuations of the blueprints the GOATs laid out. You’ll hear what I mean as the album continues trudging forward. But for the sake of being less vague, much like Trey or John McEntee can keep chaos ironically controlled, Drawn and Quartered’s riffs twist and turn without overly disorganizing the song’s structure. Everything stays pretty cohesive. The closer, “Mass Grave Curse,” is a prime example of tenderizing a track by removing any unnecessary layers of fat or excess verses or what-have-yous. The result? A two-minute, blistering onslaught of death metal goodness that leaves you salivating for more. 

Again, all in all, Lord of Two Horns doesn’t have patience for your BS. Roughly 34 minutes of runtime gives up only a few minutes to sit back and relax. One of those moments is a doom metal-ish intro on “The Devil’s Work is Never Done.” Brandishing the same griminess of “Deliverance of Horrific Prophecies” off Onward to Golgotha, Drawn and Quartered slowly build to their traditional uptempo style before an abrupt halt with just more than a minute left on the track. The sendoff with that evil carnivalesque riff might be the coolest moment on the album. 

At its core, Lord of Two Horns is a grand ol’ time for death metal fans old and new. Drawn and Quartered remain as consistent as ever, churning out one of their strongest albums as they approach decade number three of their careers. It’s—yet again—an all-killer, no-filler offering from the Pacific northwesterners. And as much as we laud a band like Cannibal Corpse or Immolation for their longevity and quality dependability, we should start tossing Drawn and Quartered into that discussion.