Tight, dirty, unrelenting death metal is what Drawn and Quartered is about, and that’s what Drawn and Quartered delivers. Merciless Hammer marks Drawn and Quartered’s latest album, and it is fucking solid.

Drawn and Quartered owe a good deal of their style to Immolation. The riffs and song structure are very much influenced from middle-era Immolation, and the solos feature a style very much in the same vein as Bob Vigna. However, Drawn and Quartered arrange and write their material in such a way that they maintain their own distinctive sound, keeping the Immolation influence as merely an influence. In some areas one can see a nod to Incantation’s slower, darker moments as well, but for the most part Drawn and Quartered keeps the music pummeling forward. In comparison to Drawn and Quartered’s other albums, Merciless Hammer isn’t as accessible as Hail Infernal Darkness or even Extermination Revelry but after a few listens all the gears click just the way right and Merciless Hammer falls right into its place as one of the better death metal releases this year.

The only complaint I have with Merciless Hammer is the production job, and even then it’s a love/hate type of deal. On the one hand, the production makes it very hard to really pick out the bass in there sometimes. On the other hand, that rough production gives Merciless Hammer a type of dark, foreboding feeling that really suits their brand of death metal. They make up for this however with the inclusion of a bonus disc full of unreleased material from cancelled splits and long since out-of-print promo material. Some of this isn’t entirely unfamiliar, such as the cover of Slayer’s "Show No Mercy" which has been included on past re-issues as a bonus track, and the disc has its own whacky production issues, but given all the extra material in addition to the solid normal album, it’s nonetheless a fine inclusion.

Merciless Hammer is definitely a must for death metal fans, especially if you like Immolation. Pick it up when you can (Hell, I’ve actually seen a copy- bonus disc and all- for sale at FYE of all places).

Review byNecro-tron