Volbeat’s “Demonic Depression,” the fourth track on their ninth studio album God of Angels Trust, is a brutal, unfiltered look at mental illness wrapped in pounding riffs and strained confessionals.

Released on June 6, 2025, the album is already being hailed as their heaviest, darkest, and most creatively liberated to date. Born in the wake of guitarist Rob Caggiano’s 2023 departure and frontman Michael Poulsen’s recovery from throat surgery, God of Angels Trust was recorded with urgency and instinct.

Volbeat stripped themselves back to a core trio, leaned into live tracking, and completed the entire album in just 13 days. That urgency bleeds into this track. There’s no theatrical veil — no prohibition-era gangster story or stylised Western shootout. Instead, what we get is something much more personal: a direct confrontation with mental illness, spiritual disillusionment, and the razor’s edge between despair and survival.

Letting Go of Pretence, Clinging to Truth

“Demonic Depression” may not have been written about Poulsen himself — the song, by his own account, was inspired by a friend battling intense depression — but it’s impossible not to hear something deeper within it.

Michael Poulsen on “Demonic Depression”

It’s based on one of my really good friends and the state of mind that he was in for a couple of years. I’ve played it for several friends, and they’ve all asked, ‘Did you write that about me?’ Which is a little scary and just shows how many people are dealing with mental issues in certain parts of their lives and how many are constantly struggling.

It’s about some heavy mental issues, so I guess the message is pretty universal. Depression is so all-consuming, and it affects so many people, and the best way to help someone struggling with it is to talk to them and listen what they have to say. I’ve had my share of mental issues throughout life, so I guess I’m part of the lyrics, too.

This track doesn’t just reflect a new theme — it reflects a new Volbeat. The band that once built towering rockabilly-metal anthems with pristine studio polish has gone somewhere rougher and riskier. That’s no accident. Poulsen was determined to break all the songwriting rules this time around. In just three weeks of summer 2024, he composed half the record with bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen and drummer Jon Larsen, feeding directly into an album defined by immediacy.

And nowhere is that energy more focused than on “Demonic Depression.” At just under four minutes, it doesn’t waste a breath. It punches in fast, chews the walls of its own psyche, and then reaches out — not for help, but for connection. It’s heavy because it speaks directly to something so many people live with, and so few can name out loud.

Volbeat – Demonic Depression Lyrics In Full

Volbeat Abandon the Mask

“Demonic Depression” doesn’t ask to be liked. It isn’t catchy in the traditional Volbeat way. There’s no swing, no cool, no sense of triumph. But that’s exactly why it matters. Because when you peel back the production, the touring schedules, the stylistic fusion — this is what’s underneath: a band that knows the reality of depression.

Volbeat could have phoned it in post-Caggiano. They could have stuck to the formula. But they didn’t. God of Angels Trust proves they still have fire, and songs like this prove they still have something to say. It’s not pretty. It’s not poetic. But it’s honest, and for those standing on their own cliff edge, sometimes that’s enough to get you through the day.

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