I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year and a half since we’ve last seen a release from NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST, but on April 4 of 2025 the band dropped their latest digital single “Nail in the coffin”. This is the first release of the group since the single “Kingdom”, which was released in October of 2023.
Unlike the two previous singles, which were available digitally at first initially and later saw a physical release available at some live shows played at that time, “Nail in the coffin” appears to remain a digital only single, containing only the title song.
Back in 2020 NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST released three digital only singles, namely “Life is Once”, “ONLY HUMAN” and “Reviver”, the three singles being intended to show off the composition styles of guitarists Valtz and Yu-taro, who were not revealed as the new members of the group at that time. When the album “ARGOS” was released in 2022, these three singles saw a physical release on this album as well.
At that time we covered two of the three singles here, despite them being only one song each, much like “Nail in the coffin” is now. While I’ve wanted to talk about the previous two singles “Despise” and “Kingdom” since they were released in 2023, they’ve continuously been pushed to the back due to other things taking priority. And with this new single now taking the spotlight as the group’s newest release, I am again going to postpone these two singles a little more in order to discuss this one with you. Because despite being only one song, there’s quite a bit for us to talk about!
Is this new single the nail in the coffin for NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST? Let’s find out together, shall we?
The spiral of pain won’t keep me sane
Where the previous two singles “Despise” and “Kingdom” were composed by Valtz, “Nail in the coffin” has been composed by Yu-taro. And I don’t know about you, but I can personally hear the difference in their styles immediately. Where Valtz puts in what I can only describe as ‘solid power’, Yu-taro tends to incorporate more melodic parts into his songs as well, often adjusting 尋 (Hiro)’s vocal sound to fit this style more as well. In the previous two singles Valtz was experimenting with a more digital sound mixed into them, but Yu-taro throws this element out the window entirely and replaces it with a more melodic undertone and brings Masa’s bass and Natsu’s drums to the foreground more.
This surprisingly intense contrast was also visible on the 2022 album “ARGOS”, effectively giving the group two different sounds based on who is composing at that time. Which, understandably, will put a lot of listeners in the ‘I like this one, but not that one’-group. Myself being one of those because of the sheer contrast we can hear on this album. But this actually changes with “Nail in the coffin”, because not only does Yu-taro’s composition compliment 尋 (Hiro)’s vocal style, it also allows him to use a much larger range of it than in his previous compositions. Combining his screaming style with his low, almost whisper, style and his melodic clean vocals, all while giving the dominant sound (as in, the instruments you naturally focus on while listening to their music) to the drum and bass rather than the guitars like we’ve heard Valtz do with his compositions recently.
The previous two singles had 尋 (Hiro) provide lyrics in full English throughout the entire songs, but for “Nail in the coffin” he actually sneaks in two Japanese lines, namely: “ただ生きる為に何もせず意志を捨てて” (Don’t do anything just to live, abandon your will) and “描いた夢の為に今を騙し” (I deceive the present for the sake of the dream I drew), both following right after each other and fitting right in with the English lyrics for the rest of the song. As usual the lyrics are more in the ‘protesting’ style we often see in the metal-genre, but 尋 (Hiro) has used this style of lyrics for many, many years. Even when the group was still considered a ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) band, so this doesn’t really come as a surprise. He has merely doubled down on it since returning to the metal genre, which is not a bad thing in the slightest. (While he used a similar style in “Despise” and “Kingdom”, the message of “Nail in the coffin” is still extremely different in terms of who it is ‘targeting’, though.)
The inclusion of his more melodic, clean vocal style gives an emotion to the lyrics that we don’t hear in “Despise” or “Kingdom”, but this again has to do with who the message is targeted at.
Conclusion
Is “Nail in the coffin” really the nail in the coffin for NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST like the name implies? No. It’s in fact quite the opposite.
Where the initial compositions Yu-taro contributed to the group felt completely different than the compositions Valtz contributed at the same time, to the point of the combination hurting the “ARGOS” album a little bit when it was released, that feeling is no more. Or so I hope. “Nail in the coffin” is in my opinion the best composition Yu-taro has contributed since joining the group, using the skills of the members to his advantage rather than the more exploring ‘how far can I push everyone’-style we heard in his compositions for “ARGOS”.
The addition of the more melodic style, combined with not having the guitars be the center stage gives NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST a completely different sound – a sound that isn’t bad for them in the slightest. The group has always had a more heavy emphasis on the drums and bass, but was recently being overshadowed by the guitars a bit too much in my opinion. While the combination of Valtz and Yu-taro is nothing short of impressive, when you listen to “Despise” and “Kingdom” you will hear that the guitars are far more prominent than they are in “Nail in the coffin”, which again isn’t necessarily a bad thing depending on your preferences. Yet, with this new song there is a different power being injected to the group. And if you haven’t listened to the song yet, I can only highly encourage you to do so, see if you pick up on it yourself!
The single is available for streaming on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, etc., and available as a digital download as well. This means that there is no physical CD of the single, at least, at this point in time no physical release has been announced yet. We will however share the Spotify version with you below:
 N/A // ¥204 |
2025.04.04 Shop: TuneCore |
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.