There's really only one word that best describes the latest from Seattle's Drawn and Quartered...brutal. That's right, BRUTAL! Merciless Hammer of Lucifer is the fifth release from these death metal veterans, and they show no signs of softening up their brand of Satanic mayhem one bit. Brutally heavy, with plenty of relentless blast beats, pummeling riffs, melodic leads, and the gore soaked growls of singer Herb Burke, Merciless Hammer of Lucifer is sure to be of interest to fans of the extreme metal world. While it won't make folks forget about recent releases from Behemoth, Nile, Cannibal Corpse, or Deicide, this is a CD that has a lot going for it. Manic tracks like "A Final Solution", "Funeral Pyres Of Annihilation", "Sodomy And Heresy", and the groove laden killer "Cyanide Sacrament" all run the gamut of different tempos and flavors of death metal, with the bone-crunching riffs, blasts, and growls out in front creating a massive wall of sound. Interestingly enough, the guitar solos are usually slow and melodic, as K.S. Kuciemba has chosen not to take the easy way out with wild & pointless whammy bar excursions and cacaphonous bursts of noise, which many players in the genre tend to do. His tasty and fluid runs on "Rise Of The Black Sun" and the blasphemous title track add an almost NWOBHM flavor to these otherwise brutal examples of death metal. End result here is an enjoyable slab o' extremeness that won't win awards for originality, but is solid enough to qualify as a winner all around.
Track Listing
1 - Sickness Redeemer
2 - Merciless Hammer Of Lucifer
3 - A Final Solution
4 - Funeral Pyres Of Annihilation
5 - Bloodbath Of Renewal
6 - Sodomy And Heresy
7 - Cyanide Sacrament
8 - Faith In Decay
9 - Rise Of The Black Sun
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
