Drawn And Quartered // Lord Of Two Horns // Album Review

Seattle death metal goliaths Drawn And Quartered are back, giving you a lesson in what old school death metal truly is…

Formed in 1994, Drawn And Quartered are veterans within the scene. Taking influence from the early-90s death metal to create a putrid, unrelenting sound of carnage, full of speed & barbaric moments.

Now with their ninth album “Lord Of Two Horns”, the first material since 2021’s “Congregation Pestilence”, the band are their most focused & downright brutal to date.

“Black Castle Butcher”, the first track on the album, right off the bat, is pure chaos. A thunderous drum fill opens the track before, on a breath, the band unleash with full force. Furious & precise, this track has that signature D&Q sound. Melding the sounds of Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel & Immolation to create this unforgiving wall of sound that blasts right through your chest.

One of my favourite things about the band has been their use of lead guitar, and this first track starts things off right! Kelly Shane Kuciemba’s sharp but elegant leads cut through the band’s brutality & offer something melodic & quite gorgeous.

The album’s title track, “Lord of Two Horns”, opening section is a flurry of humming riffs soaked in ungodly distortion that invoke that anthemic feel the likes of Incantation or Deicide. This track is a great highlight within the band’s discography. The overall track has these great peaks & valleys. Where each moment builds & just keeps going before it brings you back before throwing you right into it again. A true bruiser of a track & a savage drumming performance, Simon Dorfman the double kick work & use of cymbals on this track helps give the track that said anthemic feel & drives the track throughout.

With a great eerie & dissonant feel, “Three Rivers of Poison (Blasphemous Persecution)” rides that perfect line of keeping the track ultra brutal but has a great melodic feel running through it. Which is such a great thing to hear. Yes, a band can be brutal, but without melody & groove it’s a sea of noise. That’s why, for me, D&Q have always been so fantastic. They play around with songwriting, which helps them craft an album full of tracks which give different feels & atmosphere.

And this track stands out on the album for being one of the best. It also really highlights the vocal performance from bassist Herb Burke. Where most vocalists keep it super guttural, Herb has a lower register vocal approach, but his use of high moments within the tone he uses gives it a very dynamic feel. Keeping it very brutal but giving the band another instrument to play around with to make superb textures within their tracks.

The album’s closer, “Mass Grave Curse”, is a two-minute relentless assault on the senses. It might be the most brutal & punishing track on the album, & just a high note to leave the listener on. Its speedy attack & sharp angular guitar riffs from Brandon Corsair & Kuciemba make you feel like you’re getting stung to death in a wasp’s nest. The reason it feels so punishing is due to the ability of the album’s production to let you hear every single little detail in the recording. Thanks to the album being recorded at Plague Pit by guitarist Kelly Shane Kuciemba (with drums recorded by Chris Mannino at Die Burning Studios), mixed and mastered by Loïc Fontaine for Krucyator Productions. The effort & capture of this album kinda sets it apart from modern death metal. Giving it that organic & pure sound a lot of bands miss.

Drawn & Quartered has been able to write yet another unparalleled album. Where most bands this later into their career start to slow down, thirty-plus years into their discography, is getting better & somehow more brutal with each release.

If you are looking for something that blends all your favourite early 90s death releases, with a massive slab of catchy melodies & memorable hooks, then “Lord Of Two Horns” will give you everything you want & will also have some superb surprises up its sleeve that will surprise you!

Review: Joseph Mitchell

Lord of Two Horns is out June 27th, 2025, via Nuclear Winter Records.