One of the pioneers of the US extreme scene, Cleveland’s Nunslaughter have released a large number of splits, EPs, singles and live recordings since their formation in 1987, but only five full length albums. Their sixth one, Satanic Chaos Legions, comes out end of June with fourteen new songs of darkness and filth.
Their only original member being front man Don of the Dead, the band has been torturing our senses with a primal, straightforward style of black-death metal, not too far away from early Blasphemy, Sarcófago and Necrophagia.
Their new album is no exception, forging forth with the determination of a rabid dog, with a powerful, meaty production, probably their best sound ever. Songs like the title track or Undead Melody even show an early Sodom influence, but there is a tediousness creeping in after the fifth-sixth song. The main musical message is well conveyed, but there is too little variety in the riff patterns and the songs sound too hard to distinguish from one another.
Yes, Nunslaughter own their influences from early Bathory and Venom proudly on their sleeves, but, come on – you just have to try harder nowadays to raise a head above the crowd. The world of extreme music so far in 2026, for me personally, has been dominated by Mayhem and Immolation, and when I compare what these guys have offered with the new Nunslaughter material, this is just sub-par. Sorry.
It’s a style of extreme metal that has been explored so much already that I can’t think of a reason to not put the early classics on instead of Satanic Chaos Legions. Nunslaugher is a band to be experienced in a live setting, and a band to be respected for their contribution to the US scene, but their new studio offering cannot spark a fire of inspiration. It’s just one more release in an already overcrowded genre.
4/10
Satanic Chaos Legions will be out on June 26th and can be ordered from HERE
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