Before we start with the subject of today’s review, we want to wish you all a happy new year, and that 2026 may bring you more amazing music to listen to and enjoy! Of course we hope to introduce you to something new this year too!
We last featured NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST in April of 2025, just after the release of their “Nail in the coffin” single. But today we want to take you on a journey through their newest single “Devil inside”.
The single was released on the 6th of December last year in a digital format, but a physical CD was available for purchase at the live performance held on December 14. This CD also includes an instrumental version of the title song, but for this review we’re going to limit ourselves to the digital version, mostly because it is available for everyone who is interested in it. The band also didn’t release an MV for this song, so in addition to the Spotify link we’ll also be sharing the official visualizer the band uploaded to their YouTube channel instead of an MV.
With that introduction behind us, are you ready for “Devil inside”? Let’s go!
Show me the devil in you
The single opens with an instrumental track, something we’ve seen NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST do more often than not over the years. The previous single “Nail in the coffin” didn’t have an instrumental introduction, but given how theatrical the title song for this single actually is, “The Aftermath” serves as a proper introduction rather than throwing you into the deep end immediately.
This instrumental was composed by Valtz, and makes use of various instruments including two different guitars, very subtle but heavy drums and even a music box, mixed with some female vocal notes.
While only a minute and thirteen seconds long, the instrumental shows the more melodic side of the heavy metal genre without straying too far from NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST’s core sound. And while yes, there is a strong contrast between the instrumental and the title song, there are also similarities. But, rather than pointing them out to you, I will leave them for you to discover on your own.
The main act of course is “Devil inside”, which is (as I already mentioned earlier) a very theatrical piece, even if it doesn’t look like it at first glance. We’ve heard several different styles from Valtz the last few years, so I was quite surprised that this isn’t a Yu-taro composition, given that it takes some influence from the previous single. The lyrics are, as usual, written by 尋 (Hiro), but unlike its predecessor “Devil inside” is sung entirely in English. During the nearly five minutes this track actually lasts, you’ll hear 尋 (Hiro) switch between clean vocals, his signature snarls and even different voices to portray ‘different speakers’ within the lyrics.
While the lyrics don’t describe any ‘movement’, there absolutely is a story to be found in them, with a beginning and an ending. The first lines, which might be a bit hard to hear given that they’re very much in the introduction section of the track, already start with “Your brain is out of control, it’s too late to inject a vaccine under the skin”. What follows is a mix between the ‘host’ begging for medicine and the devil inside telling them to “kill (we have a no swearing policy here at Arlequin so I can’t use the full version of the f-word, but I am sure you can imagine it being here, right?) everything”.
The battle for control between the host and the devil inside continues throughout the song, where the devil seems to gain more and more of the host while the host themselves keeps begging for help while continuously fighting off the devil.
“Though I really want to take your soul, I can’t tell you what I thought. You beg me but I can’t stand the silence. Forgive me that I fail you. The rise of plague.” and “Help me to stop this fear that will make me insane. Somebody break my head.” really show the contrast between both speakers, but also how they’re slowly weaving together into one as the negativity takes over.
From start to finish the song tells a story that you might not be able to hear due to the overwhelming instrumentals and 尋 (Hiro)’s different vocal styles following one another in quick succession, but I can’t recommend you enough to really pay attention to the lyrics and the story they’re trying to tell us through them. Unfortunately I also have to say that the YouTube visualizer video has lowered the audio quality quite a bit, resulting in everything I told you up until now being more muted than the high quality audio version you can find on the Spotify desktop app or the iTunes Store.
Conclusion
If you’re new to NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST’s music I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me that your first impression is something along the lines of ‘there are so many different sounds, it just sounds like chaos’. Because yes, you are completely right. The only recommendation I can give you is to not listen to everything at once, but try to find the different elements they’re using. Because both “Nail in the coffin” and “Devil inside” are prime examples of there being a lot more deep than people (initially) gave them credit for.
While the band has released different styles of music within the metal genre throughout the years (I’m loosely referring to their song “Kingdom” as an example of a totally different sound than we’re used to from them here), you will always hear a deeper sound coming from Natsu’s drums and Masa’s bass, resulting in a heavy foundation Valtz and Yu-taro can layer their guitar sounds on while giving 尋 (Hiro) the freedom to use his different vocal styles in combination with their instruments. The same can be said about “Devil inside”, where 尋 (Hiro) really shines as a vocalist.
It may take some times to poke through the many sounds and elements that make “Devil inside”, but lyrically speaking it’s a very immersive experience that suits NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST in more ways than one. Both Valtz and Yu-taro are getting more familiar with the skills from their fellow members in their compositions, resulting in more enjoyable songs for us to listen to. But they wouldn’t be NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST if they just gave us everything in the first listen, would they?
More about NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST
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雪 (Yuki) is the owner and driving force behind Arlequin.
She originally started the project in 2009 as a photographer under the name of Arlequin Photography, but developed an interest in journalism and translation ever since. Because of these interests interviews and reviews were added to the project, until it eventually hit the limits as a "photographer" in 2021, and Arlequin Magazine was added to the mix.
雪 (Yuki) is a native Dutch speaker with a graphic design degree, which means she is also the main person behind Arlequin Creations.
After all these years, she's still the one responsible for the interviews and most of the live photography you see here at Arlequin, but the majority of reviews and behind-the-scenes work is also done by her.
The reviews she writes are from the viewing point of an overseas fan, and thus written in English before being translated to Dutch, Spanish and Japanese. In the English versions she also tries to explain the meaning behind certain kanji or song titles to the readers, but what you don't see here is that these explanations are omitted in the Japanese versions in order to appeal to these readers more.
She speaks Dutch and English on a native level, but also understands Japanese and German.