The composition showcases the refined side of the band, crafted to provide extra power, even in the barbaric fast tempos. The riffage is brutal and vicious. The guttural growls are thick and deep, laid in a skillful performance throughout the opening track “Black Castle Butcher”, and there is an overwhelming quality that imbues 90s old-school death metal brutality in ways you have not imagined.

As impressive as their sonic finesse, Drawn and Quartered evokes a demonic atmosphere with ferocious drums providing ultra-fast blast beats; the riffs are more effective with the bass guitar giving a surrounding sonic blast. The faster tempos on the album bring out an intense sound, which adds a massive punch to the crushing riffs and striking, powerful drums wreaking havoc on “Zealous Depopulation”.

The band is brewing a darker style of brutal death metal, which sets a doom-filled and demonic onslaught. The album leans towards a classic sound, the furious drum sets a driving pace into chaotic tempos. The songs have a raw and unpolished structure, one notable aspect is how the guitars create harmonies and variations in these insane, rapid tempos, and you can barely find a slow moment.

The guitar injects brutal guitar chords as the instruments sound more balanced and equal, the songs delving into darker and morbid themes of death and focusing on the horror aspects. The quartet maintains a barbaric tempo; there are a couple of moments when the music sounds creepy in the eponymous track “Lord of Two Horns”. Despite the intensity and the tight musicianship, Drawn and Quartered emphasizes a certain catchiness; every time I listen to the squealing guitar tone, it makes my skin shiver.

The cavernous tone of the guttural growls captivates the work of evilness in tracks like “Into the Mouth of the Dead”; the drums pummel you repeatedly after a flurry of guitar hooks. From one savage chord to another, the music takes a putrid approach and strikes a kind of sludge-drenched riffage right into your face.

Guitarists Kelly Kuciemba and Brandon Corsair create numerous musical passages, bassist and vocalist Burke sounding like a demon growling from the pits of hell, and the crushing drums of Simon Dorfman bringing on rapid-fire tempos on “Three Rivers of Poison (Blasphemous Persecution)”.

The swampy atmosphere in the song “Grimoire of Blood” depicts a blend of chaos and subtle elements of death doom metal. The music emits a thick miasma over the churning riffs, showing that Drawn and Quartered has a tight grip on these sluggish, cavernous tempos, which often remind me of Incantation. The album contains eight tracks that will grind you, even in the album’s slowest track, “The Devil’s Work Is Never Done”, unleashes a fine and proverbial style of death doom brutality.

“Lord of Two Horns” is loaded with crushing grooves, fast breakneck tempos, and furious eruption of superfast drumming madness, taking a brutal and often death doom flow, but what’s innovative is the evil harmonic guitar passages that will make you bow down to those masters.

No doubt that over the three decades, the quartet has crafted its signature style that cannot be replicated. The focus is to push their sound beyond the boundaries by combining an extreme and monstrous wall of guitar riffs that will make you suffocate due to the density of the sinister, dark atmosphere.

The album concludes with “Mass Grave Curse”, which, in my opinion, is another highlight of the album besides the opening track “Black Castle Butcher” and “The Devil’s Work Is Never Done”, showcasing a unique and solid work of quality craftsmanship. Drawn and Quartered sounds dark and demonic, and I hold their newest album in high regard compared to the 2021 predecessor “Congregation Pestilence”.

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