Drawn and Quartered Enter the "Congregation Pestilence" (Full Album Stream)

July 1, 2021

To a young Jon, death metal was this scary, new thing which was kind of looming in the background. I’d heard Cryptopsy when I was fairly young, so I knew what to expect, and it was a rare delight that I would actually delve into death metal’s crypts for some sort of enjoyment. Now, as an adult, I find that sort of terror fleeting — bands who “try” to be scary come off as cartoonish, a joke version of their intent, but not Drawn and Quartered. This long-running Seattle-based blasphemous death metal band’s heavy, thick sound is pure of malice and ill-intent, the kind of music which would make the casual listener uncomfortable in the presence of such evil.

On their new album, titled Congregation Pestilence, Drawn and Quartered once again turn the immoral dial to 11, gurgling explosive blasphemies over unsettling, churning riffwork and terrifying atmospheres. When the uninitiated think “death metal,” they likely think of something more on the horrific side (when compared to progenitors Death’s prog-shaped chip on their shoulders), and Drawn and Quartered’s unbridled dread undoubtedly embodies the disgusting and nightmarish qualities the public would really expect from death metal, and it is good. Listen to Congregation Pestilence below.

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