The recurring terror evoked by the blood-drinking demon has prevailed since the very origins of the human species, certainly as far back as the Mesopotamian civilisation. Since the time of ancient Babylon, and across folklore traditions and native superstitions since at least the 19th century BC, these demonic entities were both profoundly feared and, at the same time, worshipped as gods. Most notably, the female demonic entity Lamashtu was the most feared of these ancient divinities, given her proclivity for acting alone, driven only by deep viciousness and her hunger for human flesh and blood.

Within Black Metal, what we now recognise as the vampire has found its natural home. Historical figures of evil such as Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) and Elizabeth Bathory need no introduction to the True kvltist, and neither can we ignore the influence of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, both within Black Metal and well beyond. 

During the emergence of second-wave Black Metal and beyond, the vampiric theme has endured and underpinned highly regarded releases like Darkthrone’s Transylvanian Hunger and Mütilation’s Vampires of Black Imperial Blood, as well as their 1999 album Remains of a Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul. Their collective occult themes and their evocation of the deep sense of isolation and misanthropy resonate perfectly with the Black Metal aesthetic, making them timeless reflections of the true darkness to be discovered in the human soul.

That said, Vampiric Black Metal per se remains an obscure micro-genre within the world of raw and atmospheric BM with obscure releases available as tape only and themes that address nocturnal solitude and isolation, the mystic nature of blood, a gothic sense of decay and the undead. And now we have a release that captures all of this perfectly in one album that will go down not only as a masterpiece of this most niche of all genres, but of Kvlt Black Metal itself.

Vampyriia’s Luxuria Sanguis Plenlunium is a truly incredible recording. Based in Cremona, Northern Italy this one-man act has already dispatched the epic full-length Fukk Everyone, Destroy Everything, as well as a host of demos and eps characterised by a dank, evil malevolence that epitomise what True Black Metal is meant to be.

But Luxuria Sanguis Plenlunium takes S.N. Nosfer’s creativity to a whole new level. Tracks such as Viper Venom, Rites of the Night, and Dragon Supremacy are no mere endeavour to cash in on vampire chic à la Dimmu Borgir or Behemoth. On the contrary, Sanguis takes you to the very soul of the blood demon, deep into the psyche of Lamashtu, Vlad and Countess Bathory herself, and down into the cavernous, deepest pit of the psychological and metaphysical hell wherein they dwell.

Vampiric Black Metal is largely hidden away in the far corners of extreme metal, and maybe that’s where it ultimately belongs. But for True acolytes of the Black Flame, albums such as this deserve to be held in the highest esteem and taken as an embodiment of the extent to which the honesty of Black Metal in its penetration of human evil and malignity will always be timeless.

If Vampyriia can deliver an album this astonishing in its depth, what else lies before them?

In tenebris vetus fames surgit, et sanguis iterum vocat.

Sample track

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