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Blutsauger – Nocturnal Blood Tyrants
By Alekhines Gun
Raw black metal is a tricky proposition. There’s an extremely thin line to walk between production choices designed to add mood and atmosphere to compositions via a wall of auditory fog and production choices that sound like someone threw their equipment down….wait, haven’t we done this already? We sure have, and boy oh boy have we landed on the opposite side of the coin. While Italy is most known for its symphonic (Fleshgod Apocolypse) and tech death (Hour of Penance) scenes, its black metal collective is also alive and well, doing their own thing in their dark corner of the world. Today’s offering is the debut release by duo Blutsauger (German for “Bloodsucker”), coming hot off the heels of sole demo Path of the Bleeding Dead. A gander at that colorless, bleak art aptly spells out the whole mission statement, as Nocturnal Blood Tyrants comes to land blackened crowbars to your very glass jaws, with not a dollop of fun to be found.
How raw is raw? Nocturnal Blood Tyrants is an abrasive, loud, violent listen, with treble turned up wide into a blast furnace of sound over Archgoat-esque drum savagery and not a glimmer of bass (instrument or tone) detected in the ensuing fallout. Utilizing the searing, caustic approach of Dethroned, Conquered and Forgotten era Judas Iscariot with the gain cranked up to 11, Blutsauger aren’t here to be memorable as much as overwhelming. “The Black Hunters” shows the album’s blueprint in all its blackened glory, with a flood of chords collapsing from one quick shift to the next as the drums1 charge relentlessly underneath the tornado of tones. In terms of presentation, Nocturnal Blood Tyrants never lets up, with no chords ever obtaining warmth and vocals maintaining a Blasphemous perpetual pitch throughout the release.
Wisely, Blutsauger make up for this uninviting presentation with a good variety in their riff approach. On average, Nocturnal Blood Tyrants uses an A/B phrasing, where a song comes out blasting and shredding with blood and vinegar before using tempo shifts to craft moments of individuality and personality. “Black Shroud Ritual” is a key example, with a sudden swerve of a slowdown that evolves into straightforward headbangability with the drums presenting some brief moments of real rhythmic transitions and one to two-measure fills. This approach is developed over the course of the album, where what begins as a clear and concise formula starts to grow roots and blossom into something more mature and layered the deeper into the listen you go. This variety in riffing is a welcome reprieve for what would threaten to be a completely flavorless haze of a listen.
Curiously, this results in the more interesting ideas of Nocturnal Blood Tyrants being located in the back half. Title track “Nocturnal Blood Tyrants” flirts with sustained, depressive open chords for a prolonged passage, with the drums presenting military style rolls and staccato-heavy fills. “Wash Them With Fire” sports the album’s first actual lead and consequently stands out like a lightning bolt in a clear sky, particularly when the drums switch their stylings into china-heavy accents and fills before dropping into a vintage Tsjuder tank-plodding attack. Blutsauger even try their hand at the greatest trope in all genres of metal (Le epic grand finale track) with a doomy tempo and a complete lack of the speed and ruthless assaults of the preceding 27 minutes. This exhausted display, the sound of an outfit spent of all their energy and wrath, but never of their sardonicism and anger, makes for a surprisingly efficient album closer by contrast, even if the samples used are wasted in the mix.
Much like a really well-made horror movie, I can’t see myself returning to Nocturnal Blood Tyrants often unless the mood strikes, but only because of how well it accomplishes what it sets out to do. Blutsauger crafted a release that is utterly devoid of anything that could be called beautiful, attractive, or endearing. Its production is violent on the ears, its chord progressions never become softer than “melancholic”, and its tonal palette is as warm as your ex’s heart. But for the spirit of raw black metal, such traits are ringing endorsements. A careful attention to riffcraft and refusal to let the production overtake the importance of actual songwriting have conjured forth an album of genuine quality, if not of approachability. Raw black metal is a tricky proposition, and if you’re on team No Fun in metal2. I cannot imagine this leaving anything but a blackened frown on your face.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 103 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: ATMF
Website: Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: August 29th, 2025#2025 #30 #Archgoat #ATMF #Aug25 #Blasphemous #Blutsauger #DeTenebrarumPrincipio #FleshgodApocalypse #HourOfPenance #ItalianMetal #JudasIscariot #NocturnalBloodTyrants #Review #Reviews #Tsjuder
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Since @wendigo reminded me this year is the 30th anniversary of Tom Petty's MASTERPIECE 'Wildflowers', I figured it's time I finally post this.
I want to talk about 1994 for a minute. I was 14. They say the music that comes out and that you like in your teens sticks with you for the rest of your life, and I've definitely found that to be true. I was thinking about that the other day, and then I started looking at the records that came out that year.
1994 was a WILD year. Kurt Cobain died (on my birthday, and I was a big Nirvana fan at the time). But the year was RIDICULOUS for music and it produced some legendary masterpieces of albums that have stayed with me my whole life like friends, guiding my way.
Here are these MAGICAL fucking albums, in the order they were released in 1994. And this isn't even ALL the great albums released in '94. Just my favorites. It's wild to be alive in a time that all of this came out. I can't imagine having to write a best albums of 1994 back then. Check this list. 🤯
Jar of Flies (January)
Too High to Die (January)
Dookie (February)
Mellow Gold (March)
The Downward Spiral (March)
Superunknown (March)
A Date With the Smithereens (April)
Weezer (blue, May)
Purple (June)
Betty (June)
Same As it Ever Was (June)
Bakesale (August)
Stranger Than Fiction (September)
Chocolate and Cheese (September)
Monster (September)
Pisces Iscariot (October)
Wildflowers (November)
I mean, what a LIST.
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From LinkedIn:
Astra built this three.js game with gorgeous graphics, then recreated every scene in Blender and made the trailer too.
It feels like a massive upgrade from Sol for 3D graphics and front-end design. The Ul feels way more polished and less like Al slop.
The rocks, trees, monuments, and characters are all procedural code, keeping the game under 2 MB before the image and music assets.
The level of autonomy is unbelievable. It needed very little steering, though I still had to keep pushing it to work harder on the details.
The Ul icons, buttons, and ornaments were made as transparent PNGs with GPT Imaae 2.
Well, I might as well start planning my funeral, and everyone can do the same since there’s nothing left for humans to do.
Truly sad times, I don’t even know why this is something that we should pursue. People really want to jerk off and “consume” instead of creating.
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From LinkedIn:
Astra built this three.js game with gorgeous graphics, then recreated every scene in Blender and made the trailer too.
It feels like a massive upgrade from Sol for 3D graphics and front-end design. The Ul feels way more polished and less like Al slop.
The rocks, trees, monuments, and characters are all procedural code, keeping the game under 2 MB before the image and music assets.
The level of autonomy is unbelievable. It needed very little steering, though I still had to keep pushing it to work harder on the details.
The Ul icons, buttons, and ornaments were made as transparent PNGs with GPT Imaae 2.
Well, I might as well start planning my funeral, and everyone can do the same since there’s nothing left for humans to do.
Truly sad times, I don’t even know why this is something that we should pursue. People really want to jerk off and “consume” instead of creating.
-
From LinkedIn:
Astra built this three.js game with gorgeous graphics, then recreated every scene in Blender and made the trailer too.
It feels like a massive upgrade from Sol for 3D graphics and front-end design. The Ul feels way more polished and less like Al slop.
The rocks, trees, monuments, and characters are all procedural code, keeping the game under 2 MB before the image and music assets.
The level of autonomy is unbelievable. It needed very little steering, though I still had to keep pushing it to work harder on the details.
The Ul icons, buttons, and ornaments were made as transparent PNGs with GPT Imaae 2.
Well, I might as well start planning my funeral, and everyone can do the same since there’s nothing left for humans to do.
Truly sad times, I don’t even know why this is something that we should pursue. People really want to jerk off and “consume” instead of creating.
-
From LinkedIn:
Astra built this three.js game with gorgeous graphics, then recreated every scene in Blender and made the trailer too.
It feels like a massive upgrade from Sol for 3D graphics and front-end design. The Ul feels way more polished and less like Al slop.
The rocks, trees, monuments, and characters are all procedural code, keeping the game under 2 MB before the image and music assets.
The level of autonomy is unbelievable. It needed very little steering, though I still had to keep pushing it to work harder on the details.
The Ul icons, buttons, and ornaments were made as transparent PNGs with GPT Imaae 2.
Well, I might as well start planning my funeral, and everyone can do the same since there’s nothing left for humans to do.
Truly sad times, I don’t even know why this is something that we should pursue. People really want to jerk off and “consume” instead of creating.
-
From LinkedIn:
Astra built this three.js game with gorgeous graphics, then recreated every scene in Blender and made the trailer too.
It feels like a massive upgrade from Sol for 3D graphics and front-end design. The Ul feels way more polished and less like Al slop.
The rocks, trees, monuments, and characters are all procedural code, keeping the game under 2 MB before the image and music assets.
The level of autonomy is unbelievable. It needed very little steering, though I still had to keep pushing it to work harder on the details.
The Ul icons, buttons, and ornaments were made as transparent PNGs with GPT Imaae 2.
Well, I might as well start planning my funeral, and everyone can do the same since there’s nothing left for humans to do.
Truly sad times, I don’t even know why this is something that we should pursue. People really want to jerk off and “consume” instead of creating.
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About the GPT-Astra marketing video:
“Traditional” artists, filmmakers, game developers, illustrators etc: out in the world, collaborating, having fun, and honing their craft.
AI tech-bros: isolated in a dark room, arguing with an algorithm, slowly losing their grip on reality.
They think they're ascending the evolutionary ladder, but they're actually moving backwards. Socialization, collaboration, and knowledge sharing are the very reasons Homo sapiens thrived in the first place.
A sad technology for sad "people."[^1]
[^1] I try not to dehumanize people, but these AI guys are making it an uphill battle.
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About the GPT-Astra marketing video:
“Traditional” artists, filmmakers, game developers, illustrators etc: out in the world, collaborating, having fun, and honing their craft.
AI tech-bros: isolated in a dark room, arguing with an algorithm, slowly losing their grip on reality.
They think they're ascending the evolutionary ladder, but they're actually moving backwards. Socialization, collaboration, and knowledge sharing are the very reasons Homo sapiens thrived in the first place.
A sad technology for sad "people."[^1]
[^1] I try not to dehumanize people, but these AI guys are making it an uphill battle.
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About the GPT-Astra marketing video:
“Traditional” artists, filmmakers, game developers, illustrators etc: out in the world, collaborating, having fun, and honing their craft.
AI tech-bros: isolated in a dark room, arguing with an algorithm, slowly losing their grip on reality.
They think they're ascending the evolutionary ladder, but they're actually moving backwards. Socialization, collaboration, and knowledge sharing are the very reasons Homo sapiens thrived in the first place.
A sad technology for sad "people."[^1]
[^1] I try not to dehumanize people, but these AI guys are making it an uphill battle.
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God fuck, fucking CEOs lost their minds for real.
Fucking fuckers.
I'm here, sitting in the daily, with the CEO saying that we should stop doing UX or design because AI can do it all, just put a handful of AI bots to chat between each other and it will be done in a few hours, perfect everything, perfect logic, UI and UX.
For once, the project manager and I have joined forces and are telling him that he is delusional.
Really, he is looking at us like "look at those pesky, useless humans, I could have my AI workforce doing glorious slop for me".
Fuck, it's like a kid that never got its hands dirty with ANYTHING, thinking that he knows everything because he saw some grifter's staged demos on LinkedIn.
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God fuck, fucking CEOs lost their minds for real.
Fucking fuckers.
I'm here, sitting in the daily, with the CEO saying that we should stop doing UX or design because AI can do it all, just put a handful of AI bots to chat between each other and it will be done in a few hours, perfect everything, perfect logic, UI and UX.
For once, the project manager and I have joined forces and are telling him that he is delusional.
Really, he is looking at us like "look at those pesky, useless humans, I could have my AI workforce doing glorious slop for me".
Fuck, it's like a kid that never got its hands dirty with ANYTHING, thinking that he knows everything because he saw some grifter's staged demos on LinkedIn.
-
God fuck, fucking CEOs lost their minds for real.
Fucking fuckers.
I'm here, sitting in the daily, with the CEO saying that we should stop doing UX or design because AI can do it all, just put a handful of AI bots to chat between each other and it will be done in a few hours, perfect everything, perfect logic, UI and UX.
For once, the project manager and I have joined forces and are telling him that he is delusional.
Really, he is looking at us like "look at those pesky, useless humans, I could have my AI workforce doing glorious slop for me".
Fuck, it's like a kid that never got its hands dirty with ANYTHING, thinking that he knows everything because he saw some grifter's staged demos on LinkedIn.
-
God fuck, fucking CEOs lost their minds for real.
Fucking fuckers.
I'm here, sitting in the daily, with the CEO saying that we should stop doing UX or design because AI can do it all, just put a handful of AI bots to chat between each other and it will be done in a few hours, perfect everything, perfect logic, UI and UX.
For once, the project manager and I have joined forces and are telling him that he is delusional.
Really, he is looking at us like "look at those pesky, useless humans, I could have my AI workforce doing glorious slop for me".
Fuck, it's like a kid that never got its hands dirty with ANYTHING, thinking that he knows everything because he saw some grifter's staged demos on LinkedIn.
-
God fuck, fucking CEOs lost their minds for real.
Fucking fuckers.
I'm here, sitting in the daily, with the CEO saying that we should stop doing UX or design because AI can do it all, just put a handful of AI bots to chat between each other and it will be done in a few hours, perfect everything, perfect logic, UI and UX.
For once, the project manager and I have joined forces and are telling him that he is delusional.
Really, he is looking at us like "look at those pesky, useless humans, I could have my AI workforce doing glorious slop for me".
Fuck, it's like a kid that never got its hands dirty with ANYTHING, thinking that he knows everything because he saw some grifter's staged demos on LinkedIn.