Hail Infernal Darkness

Fuck, this is cool. You know who's overrated? Angelcorpse. Sure, their logo looks baller, they look and sound like someone extracted pure 100% war metal aesthetic (which is particularly noteworthy for the 90s), they toured with Cannibal Corpse back in the day which I'm sure increased their visibility, but I seriously think anyone who says they remember how their songs go is lying. All of the riffs avoid catchiness like the plague in pursuit of an evil atmosphere, not to mention they get drowned out by the blasting cymbals and scratchy, noisy production. It's a faceless blur of theoretically cool sounds that never end up coming together.

Drawn and Quartered, on the other hand, have a near identical sound, they've been around since the late 90s, and they're way more varied and just flat-out more interesting in the riff department than Angelcorpse is, yet D&Q get talked about maybe a half as often if that. Makes no sense but I guess that's marketing for ya.

Even though this doesn't operate at a permanently elevated bpm or anything, Hail Infernal Darkness always feels faster, and it's because the tempo shifts are tight and there's a few different styles of faster drumming patterns that push and pull with each other to create little dips and surges. "Procession of Pain" showcases this really well, with your standard snare-led blastbeat going into a fast kick-drum section with the snare coming in on every fourth hit, then back into the standard blast again. Oh, and you can actually make out the riff underneath it, and it kicks ass! The polished production (for the style, anyway) helps to accent the speed and make it a little bit more punchy - i'd almost call this a melodic war metal album, especially with how hooky the more black metal-inspired closing track is. They hit a good balance between the drums sounding big and overwhelming (especially in the feet, I love how the kicks sound) while also remembering that it's a rhythm instrument and not necessarily meant to be in the foreground.

Previous albums by this band sounded a little unbalanced at times in comparison to Hail Infernal Darkness, but I don't mean that as a knock on those albums because one thing that makes Drawn and Quartered so underrated is that they have half a dozen distinct, quality releases and they're still going strong today after over 20 years. Angelcorpse has like, what, two albums people actually care about? I know I'm taking a lot of unnecessary pot shots at them, but as I listen to this it constantly boggles my mid that they get comparatively more attention. Hail Infernal Darkness sacrifices nothing in terms of atmosphere and I actually find myself wanting to come back to specific moments.

Perhaps the real secret is the Immolation-style squeals and pinch harmonics that Hail Infernal Darkness frequently features, particularly evident on songs like "Suffer A Traitor's Fate" and "Bind, Torture, Kill". They add additional texture to the breaks in frenzied fury, keeping momentum going during a drop in pace. With this blasty death metal style, the only way you're going to keep me from getting burnt out before the album is over is to give me the occasional plot twist that makes me wonder if there's something else going on. These songs toe that line well, occasionally throwing in some lumbering dissonance or toying with more climactic arrangements. Any time a song ventures beyond its usual comfort zone, it's stabilized by the croaking growls, which always provide a nice low end and contrast to round out some of the thinner riffs.

If you're partial to the noisy, faceless American black/death metal that labels like Hells Headbangers and Nuclear War Now churn out nonstop, this band should be a staple in your collection already. If you don't fall in that camp, you should give this a shot regardless. Hail Infernal Darkness isn't super flashy, being more of a meat and potatoes kind of album, but careful listening reveals a really cool hybrid of Angelcorpse and Immolation. Lots of speed, and the weird twists keep it fresh.

The United States of America is truly the spiritual home of orthodox death metal with very technical tendencies. Mantas/Death is definitely the go-to band when anyone is talking about US death metal. However, Drawn and Quartered can be compared much more accurately to bands such as Morbid Angel and Obituary and Cannibal Corpse. What's similar about all the aforementioned bands? Well, unless you've been living under a rock for the past thirty years, these guys are basically the main originators of the brutal-technical death metal sound.

Drawn and Quartered plays a brand of music which thrives in its very sadistic and malevolent nature, yet still possesses a veil of mystery so beautifully woven by the juxtaposition of the bass and the lead guitar melodies in most parts of the album. The drums carries the heavy weight of the entire album when you take into account the fact that speed and bellicose ferocity are the main driving themes behind this album. Throughout most of the album's running-time, the drums is mostly relentless. The vocals are another very important highlight of this album which runs around forty minutes. The singer or more appropriately the growler, manages to project a very powerful and hateful persona. He truly means business, and this album managed to make his voice shine in the most masterful of ways.

The mixing on this album is excellent and perfectly tailor-made for this type of death metal sound, where the depth of the vocals need to be put to the forefront, and both the guitar and bass and the percussion need to have a very strong and overwhelming presence. One track which I think definitely brought out the importance of the mixing job on the album is the opening track called "Procession of pain" which puts the crunchiness of the bass and the thickness of the lead riffs on a pedestal to be worshiped in their unholy mightiness.

I truly can't stress how well-written this whole album is. Even though it doesn't really break the cycle, it still doesn't jump on one specific bandwagon which would make the music easily compartmentalized. This album is heavily pedestrian, yet it's fascinating and interesting in its own very subdued and sincere way. What you've got in this album is a chunk of dependable death metal to which you can turn to after a disappointing foray in order to gain faith in extreme metal once again.

For me this is the pinnacle of this great band's excellent work. The riffs, the songs, the sound and the dark mood it creates are all just perfectly in line. The band's primary sound touchstones (Morbid Angel, perhaps even Sadistic Intent) are very much in force, but D&Q, as always, write songs in the style of their influences, not blatant imitations of them. The title cut is a true DM classic, the other tracks all being at least very strong constructs as well. I'm so glad I finally got hip to these dudes, as they really have kicked my ass into gear as far as my love of traditional death metal is concerned. They're not gore obsessed blasters, they're not unabashed retro-freaks, they're simply and excellent death metal band making writing some of the best songs the genre has seen in years. These guys deserve the full devil horn treatment: SWORN TO THE BLACK!!

If there is one "modern" death metal band I can stand, it's Drawn and Quartered. By virtue of thier influences alone.

An overall increase in quality, Hail Infernal Darkness nearly manages to be the band's strongest material yet. While 'Hail Infernal Darkness' is admittedly nothing new for the band it's a good solid listen that has remained interesting.

Sounds like:
-Blatant Immolation influence (to say thier sound resembles the NY band is an understatement).
-Song structure is more varied this time around. Less consistent although by far more interesting.
-The tasteful inclusion of guitar solos/leads do a lot to make this release stand out. In fact, after months of listening, this album's leads remain the key factor in my enjoyment... other than their resemblance to Immolation.

My only gripe is with the drums, they are mixed too loud and the blasting sections become tedious.

While I don't think they'll top 'Extermination Revelry' for me, this album's style solidifies my interest in the band and leaves me interested in things to come.