DRAWN AND QUARTERED from Seattle are a guarantee of brutality. They’re an iconic name in the American Death Metal undergound scene: active since 1993. Here we have their seventh full length album entitled “Congregation Pestilence” and released by the French label Krucyator Productions. Nine songs for almost 40 minutes of top quality old school American Death Metal, the way it should be played. It follows the path drawn by its predecessor, entitled “The One Who Lurks” and released in 2018. This is a perfect Death Metal album: evil and brutal, all enriched by a killer technique, musicianship, talent and creativity. Compared to the majority of nowadays releases, “Congregation Pestilence” is a little masterpiece of satanic Death Metal. Too bad that it won’t probably get the proper attention, but if you’re like me, namely a die hard fan of putrid and savage Death Metal, you’ll never miss such an evil and sick album. The atmosphere is suffocating when the tempo slows down and furious when they speed up. Main influences? If I had to compare DRAWN AND QUARTERED to other bands, I would say: INCANTATION, AUTOPSY, MORBID ANGEL, INMOLATION, DISCIPLES OF MOCKERY, GOREAPHOBIA, MALEVOLENT CREATION, MONSTROSITY, DIABOLIC, SADISTIC INTENT etc. The riffing is solid and well structured with many creepy melodies and some killer guitar leads, able to create a gloomy atmosphere in the Doom parts and pure chaos in the fast ones (“Formulas Fatal To The Flesh” comes to mind). The rhythm section is brutal and precise with a punchy bass tone and a dynamic drumming. There are tons of ultra fast blastbeats, pretty reminiscent of Aantar Lee Coates, Lee Harrison and the latest works by Pete Sandoval. The vocals are the typical deep and ultra guttural growlings in the vein of Will Rahmer and Craig Pillard. An extra point goes to the blasphemous and macabre front cover artwork. This is a mandatory addition to your collection, just like all the releases by DRAWN AND QUARTERED and their side project PLAGUE BEARER. More info here: www.facebook.com/drawnandquartered, www.facebook.com/krucyatorproductions

DRAWN AND QUARTERED from Seattle have been rummaging around in the underground for 30 years without really having any great exposure. In 1992 they started out as PLAGUE BEARER and then renamed themselves in 1994. Two demos were thrown in the debut period and then in 1999, they released their debut album “To Kill Is Human”. From 2003 to 2007 they were unstoppable and albums two to five followed. Then this death hammering beast got a little quieter and it took them until 2012 for “Feeding Hell’s Furnace” to appear. All the possessed listeners had to wait another six years to exposed to the sounds of “The One Who Lurks” and now they set out to hammer in the eighth album, aptly named “Congregation Pestilence”, which is now officially launched by the French label Krucyator Productions. Well, what do you expect and hope when a band kept its shape since the nineties, playing Death Metal without any compromise? The album opener, ‘Death’s Disciple’, offers exactly that. Fatal old school blasts, that reminds of the intensity of old IMMOLATION and when it gets really dark, it will remind you of INCANTATION. What is pretty staggering, from the first notes you can anticipate the incoming ever flowing streams of old school Death Metal. Short but intense playing, beastly growling, dark and dismaying overall concept. It always gives you a hair raising feeling and I’m always enticed for something like that. You can tell after a few seconds of ‘Age Of Ignorance’ how slithering quick they are on the fingerboard! But also powerful in mid-tempo, the way IMMOLATION, CIANIDE, INCANTATION, IMPRECATION, DISMA delivers it. Where a hypnotic riff is always built in and the part performed in different tempos. Such classy combination of the riffing, spellbinding solos, engrossing dark mood, repulsive vocal and the sheer craftiness of drummer Simon Dorfman, who is all over the kit, means the trios don’t gamble, and they have their own ideas about the old school. Further tracks like ‘Proliferation Of Disease’, ‘Six Devils (Trepanation)’, ‘Carnage Atrocity’, follow the idea of being fast and dark to the point, with forever flowing streams of nerve-destroying dark melodies. As if roars of souls coming out of the traps. It obviously sounds total chaos, but again DRAWN AND QUARTERED shaped their version of the heaving and battering style of percussive but primitive Death Metal, which can be said is a type of organic chaos that intensifies mystery. Their recording history says, most of their previous albums were recorded and mixed at The Autopsy Room and co-recorded and co-mixed by the band itself. Although that is not the case anymore with “Congregation Pestilence”, the production upholds their signature bind, torture, kill style pummeling sound and certainly packs a real punch. Printed with a thought-provoking cover artwork, it’s a spirited thing to see groups as experienced as DRAWN AND QUARTERED, remain in its unshakable path, and continue to produce above-average quality. For any followers of Death Metal, this shall be a great addition to your collection. More about the band and label at: www.facebook.com/drawnandquartered, www.facebook.com/krucyatorproductions.

Staff and readers favourites DRAWN AND QUARTERED are back with a new album. Three years after the very fine “The One Who Lurks”, the Seattle three-piece is finally out of their dungeon again. “Congregation Pestilence” presents nine fresh and downtuned dark riff massacres full of destructive energy and deep growls. And I think this information alone will be enough for some of you to get this album. You will be happy for sure, as DRAWN AND QUARTERED doesn’t disappoint any of you with “Congregation Pestilence”. But not everyone reading here will be buying this album as a blind bargain. Let me tell you that “Congregation Pestilence” is nothing less but fine Death Metal of the brutal and merciless kind. The greatest strength of this album is the extreme variability. In comparison to the predecessor, DRAWN AND QUARTERED paced up a little bit. Of course there still are a lot of slowly crunching riffs and beats, of course there are the chaotic blast attacks that I loved about “The One Who Lurks”. On the other hand, we have some songs like ‘Age Of Ignorance’ or ‘Proliferation Of Disease’ that come along with a murderous basic speed. And the opening ‘Death’s Disciple’ even has a vibe that reminds me of good old fashioned Crustpunk, as far as the guitar tones, the beat and some riffs are concerned. And there are more outstanding moments on “Congregation Pestilence”. Especially the title track that closes the album is a real masterpiece. The piercing guitars and the slowly grinding beat are a really nasty combination – I just love it! So once again DRAWN AND QUARTERED unleashed an album that any aficionado of Death Metal will surely enjoy. Find out more at www.facebook.com/drawnandquartered or www.facebook.com/krucyatorproductions

“Congregation Pestilence” is DRAWN AND QUARTERED’s eighth studio album. Yes, eight studio albums are proof enough that these 3 guys from Seattle, Washington (USA) have been working their asses off since 1996 and it absolutely shows. Their brand of Death Metal is massive and chaotic. Sometimes melodic and eerie; others completely dissonant and broken. But the outcome is always over the top. Kelly Kuciemba combines fast tremolo riffs with humongous open chords and some palm muting to deliver memorable riff after memorable riff with precision, followed by the tight and pounding bass lines of Herb Burke. Burke’s deep and gurgling vocals fit perfectly the atonal wall of sound that the strings provide. On top of that, Simon Dorfman’s drum work is flawless and meticulous. His timing for fills and tempo changes is impressive to say the least. Also, Kuciemnba’s razor-sharp leads surprisingly appear out of nowhere when you least expect them. That made me enjoy the album a lot more, since I didn’t know exactly what would hit me next. At first listen, I was really intrigued by the overall sound. It was a bit of a sonic mess. But when I left my “frustrated audio engineer” aside, I finally embraced it as a whole. The album sounds huge and organic. Especially the drums. I really like how they are mixed in between the thick bass and guitar tones, which are not as sharp as the previous album. That makes every instrument (and the vocals) an integral part of the sonic attack instead of treating them as individual elements. Props go out to Loic Fontaine, the mixing and mastering engineer, who did a stunning job with this record. Overall, I think “Congregation Pestilence” could be DRAWN AND QUARTERED’s best effort to date. This is Death Metal as it was meant to be played and executed. Extreme, massive, raw. Put these guys up there next to your IMMOLATION, MORBID ANGEL, VITAL REMAINS and INCANTATION records, cause they deserve it! This is an astonishing album and another great step in the band’s already solid career. What will they do next? I am already eager to know. Support the band at www.facebook.com/drawnandquartered and get this amazing album from www.facebook.com/krucyatorproductions

DRAWN AND QUARTERED’s brand new album “Congregation Pestilence”, out on Krucyator Productions, is a 9 track love letter to the fans of Death Metal. What I’ve done is split this album into 3 sections of 3 tracks each and given those sections personalities to add further context to what’s been presented on this fantastic album. Let’s get on with it shall we? Section 1 – Shaw Brothers 70s Kung Fu Madness: this encompasses the first three brilliant tracks ‘Death’s Disciple’, ‘Age Of Ignorance’ and ‘Oblivion Pilgrimage’. The nomenclature for the uninitiated refers to the absolute brilliance of hand to hand combat ever presented on screen and DRAWN AND QUARTERED do the exact same bloody thing. Goddamnit! They leave absolutely no millisecond to rest here. The album opens with ‘Death’s Disciple’ which immediately presents you with a template of things to come. Absolutely choking the atmosphere of the listener with brilliant relentless drumming, the fills are so fast and in tandem with the double bass that those moments pass even before you realise what just happened. Simply brilliant! Also, an interesting aspect to this part of writing is, it actually is genre agnostic. It could just as well be the backbone of a modern Polish Black Metal band with ease. Moving on to the guitars, well, if you like MORBID ANGEL, early IMMOLATION and INCANTATION, I’d recommend you close your eyes when you listen to this record, the background mini solos invoke the spirits of Trey and Robert Vigna whilst the rhythms are dense, ominous and absolutely crushing. ‘Age Of Ignorance’ and ‘Oblivion Pilgrimage’ stand out for their exceptional songwriting. The intros alone are sufficient to gauge the quality of the rest of the tracks. Now we move on to Section 2 – Morgan Freeman’s slowburn: this starts off with ‘Proliferation Of Disease’, your typical 90s superior in-your-face, no holds barred Death Metal, which exists to drown you in the depths of the genre. The songwriting emulates the revered giants of the genre and swarms your mind with a sense of familiarity. The band slows down and adds in a variety of touches, these are the sections where the drumming comes to life. The riffs are standard, but let it not push you into leisure, these are executed with perfection. This section ends with ‘Six Devils (Trepanation)’, where the band finally imprints the aforementioned slowburn onto you. The drumming is in overdrive whilst the guitars judiciously drip with darkness all over the track. Finally, this is where you know things are stable, the melodic solo pierces through the chaos with a life of its own and as it dies, the rhythm engulfs it delicately. As we move onto the last part, Section 3 – Rosemary Baby’s Soundtrack, the guitars have thinned down to the point of being a soundtrack to your inner demons. The band comes together to simply swerve around the pathways of the labyrinth, providing rich background to the building fear. DRAWN and QUARTERED have essentially written accompanying atmosphere to your descent into after life. There aren’t any straightforward pathways, it’s just about immersing yourself into their approach of unforgiving Death Metal. The last track ‘Congregation Pestilence’ is a prime example which encapsulates the entirety of the message. The band comes together one final time to distribute their volcanic energy, using unorthodox writing to showcase everything they can and it is really well done! As much as the guitar work is stellar, the drumming is top notch and my favourite part of this record. Recommended, get a copy! For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/drawnandquartered, www.facebook.com/krucyatorproductions