What the devil do we have here? A band fronted by the infamous Don of the Dead that isn’t Nunslaughter? Apparently so. Pardon my ignorance, but I guess since 2019, good ol’ DOTD has fronted an outfit by the name of Nighnacht, which sees him paired with a group of Arizona-based devils who are known on their own as Sulphurous Burial. Together, they’ve released a slew of EPs since their 2019 inception, and come striking from the bowels of hell in 2026 with their debut full length (if you can call it that), Limb Service.
I throw in this asterisk for a few reasons. In the traditional sense of the term, I guess one would call Limb Service a “full length”. It consists of 10 songs, which is certainly longer than your standard EP. That said, all of these songs are short and anything but sweet, rarely, if ever, surpassing the 3 minute mark in length. Furthermore, the vibe of the album, so to speak, is less reminiscent of that of a proper full length and more in line with a lost late ’80s demo, straight out of the US extreme metal underground. And considering you have a living, breathing relic of that era in the form of DOTD on this record, I can’t help but think this was intentional.
Considering DOTD’s affiliation with Nighnacht, the comparisons to Nunslaughter are inevitable. However, Nunslaughter 2: Electric Boogaloo, this is not. Musically and atmospherically, Nighnacht are far more blackened than Nunslaughter ever were, with at least half of this album owing more to the USBM perversions of fellow underground overlords, Profanatica. In this regard, Nighnacht are technically a blackened death metal band, and the songs certainly seem to follow this template come the back half of Limb Service. That said, even when the riffing and arrangements become predictable, DOTD’s wicked vocals keep us on the edge of our seats.
Perhaps it’s my personal bias rearing its ugly head, but Nighnacht are at their strongest when focusing on the “death” portion of the blackened death equation. The opening “Witches Brew” is a fast and filthy slab of devil metal sounding straight out of ’87, while the murky, creepy crawl of the title track conjures shadows of the legendary Necrophagia. With its filth-ridden riffs and ominous rhythms, this one emerged straight from the graveyard. The Necrophagia-isms continue on the absolute putrid “Worms Wriggling”, and the closing “Lovers Vomit” provides on last aural nightmare for the road, fusing black, death, and thrash in an unholy matrimony of metallic vitriol.
While not nearly as essential as Nunslaughter’s full lengths, Nighnacht’s Limb Service is bound to scratch that devil metal itch until the next inevitable split from DOTD’s main outlet…which go figure, is set to drop next February in the form of a release alongside raw black metal mongrels, Hessian. I swear is there any band Nunslaughter WON’T do a split with? At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before DOTD does a split with himself: Nunslaughter x Nighnact. Double live Donzo! Perhaps we’ll see a release of this nature sooner than later.
6 out of 10
Label: Morbid and Miserable Records
Genre: Blackened Death Metal
For fans of: Nunslaughter, Profanatica, Necrophagia