Hailing from the oft-overlooked but no-less-vital Italian scene, Blutsauger are a raw black metal duo deeply rooted in the early ’90s sound. With a fierce devotion to authenticity, Blutsauger embody the true spirit of rawness and darkness, rejecting any romanticized notions—this is pure, unadulterated BLACK METAL, and proudly so.
Blutsauger’s moniker draws inspiration from Transylvanian and Austro-Hungarian folklore, evoking the figure of the bloodsucker—Nosferatu —a symbol of nocturnal terror and eternal darkness. Their music is a reflection of this bleak, ancient mythos, stripped of pretension and infused with chilling intensity.
Committed to delivering raw, atmospheric, and uncompromising black metal, not for nothing have Blutsauger been signed to the blood cult of De Tenebrarum Principio for their next two albums, promising a relentless journey into the shadowed depths of darkness. After an initial demo in 2021, the first step on to this journey now arrives with Nocturnal Blood Tyrants, Blutsauger’s full-length debut. And it’s aptly titled, too: Nocturnal Blood Tyrants geysers forth a sanguine delirium that transcends rote bloodlust, both intensifying the feverish ultraviolence at the heart of their sound and establishing a transcendental, trance-like state within these blitzed decibels. Blutsauger’s black metal is unique in that its hammering and yet oft-angular attack bears more than a passing semblance to Gorgoroth’s weirdo-berzerker period of Under the Sign of Hell and Destroyer, times where a carefully cultivated sense of rawness was first utilized as an antagonistic weapon, which correlated in parallel to the legendary Mütiilation’s rebirth with the fuck-off Black Millenium. Still, references or none, black metal would be nothing without riffs and atmosphere, and Blutsauger are fully stocked with both here; their absolute authenticity and conflagratory drive elevate both elements, arriving with a record that is fully felt rather than merely listened to.
Label: ATMF / De Tenebrarum Principio
Format: Jewelcase Cd
FFO: Mutiilation, Gorgoroth, Vlad Tepes, Belketre