Forget Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas—'tis the season for Death Metal reissues. And forget Saint Nick and all the rest of them, the most gracious gift giver this year is Moribund Records. Today I’m reviewing a reissue from DRAWN AND QUARTED, the Seattle-based foursome. Originally released on New Years Day in the way back of 2004, “Return of the Black Death” was the band’s third album. To put that in context, today they have eight studio albums, two EPs, and a live album in their discography. Yeah, so a shitload (or ‘shedload’ for my sensitive readers). The reissue hit the streets on October 13, 2023 via Moribund Records. Altogether it holds up remarkably well, sounding as brutal and relevant today as it was almost 20 years ago. 

Unfortunately, there are no bonus tracks on this one, though it does feature production work from The Autopsy Room and mastering at Nettleingham Audio, so some nice uplift there. Thematically, it’s all death, violence, and more death. Massive surprise there. Lyrically, well, let’s just say that you’d think there would be a finite number of ways to describe death, but DRAWN AND QUARTER defies that limit, finding new and innovative ways to glorify the unholy trinity of decay, mutilation, and terror. Translation: ‘fucking awesome.’

The album includes nine tracks with a full runtime of almost 40 minutes. Replete with seismic drops, nuclear blast beats, abusive riffage, and subsonic gutturals, “Return of the Black Death” hearkens back to a time when Old School Death Metal was becoming a distant memory and the larger genre of Death was adapting the relentless tempo that distinguishes it even today.  The few exceptions to this are “As Idols Fall” and the last two minutes of the title (and closing) track, “Return of the Black Death,” when the reins are pulled back and the gallop slows to a deliberate leaden march, simultaneously recalling the grim beckoning of actual black death as well as the Doom roots of Death Metal.

In addition to the two aforementioned tracks, other standout tracks include the protractedly titled “Orgiastic Feast of Excremental Blasphemy (Perversion Glorified)”; “On The Death Farm” which for me brought back memories of 1980 horror comedy classic “Motel Hell”; and “Predatory Strangulation” which introduces tremolo flourishes as well as some great technical solos.  

“Return of the Black Death” might be the best ironic callback as we brush ourselves off from Covid. A reminder that things could be a whole lot worse in terms of the plagues and pandemics, and a whole lot better in terms of brutal metal. Not to say there isn’t plenty of fantastic metal to be found today, because clearly there is, but there are also hordes of incredible artifacts from the past as well. So hats off to Moribund for bringing back some of the best; and hails and horns to DRAWN AND QUARTER for making it.