Nik Nocturnal is Stepping Away from YouTube to “Figure Out What Comes Next”

Love him or hate him, YouTuber and musician Nik Nocturnal has been a mainstay of the online metal community for more than a decade. From straight up guitar covers to hilarious skits to his popular Twitch stream, he carved a niche in the online space to become a fun standard-bearer for the music. Unfortunately for his fans and the metal community as a whole, that’s all coming to an end — but not without at least one parting gift to the people that supported him.

In a post on his Instagram, Nocturnal revealed that he’s stepping back from his YouTube channel to take stock of his life. Apparently, a lot of things have happened over the years in his personal life that he’s not been able to really deal with while building a career on a platform based on an all-encompassing and unforgiving algorithm.

Similarly, in a YouTube video explaining his retirement, Nocturnal explained that there had been multiple times over the last 11 years where he’s eschewed important personal responsibilities to keep up with what’s going on in the metal world. Rather than continue that trend and live in a near constant state of burnout, he’s walking away.

“After creating content for over 11 years, I’ve decided to take an indefinite break from uploading to focus on some important real-life stuff and figure out what’s next for me. Full explanation is up on my YouTube channel.

“Thank you to everyone who has ever shown support to the channel or the amazing community we’ve built over the years. Whether you watched one video or stuck with me for a decade, you’ve been a part of something I’ll never forget. This channel changed my life, and so did many of you. For now, I’m stepping away to reconnect with myself and figure out what comes next.”

Rather than simply vanishing into the aether to address his personal needs, Nocturnal gave his fans one final chunk of new music in the form of a 2000s-esque metalcore release dubbed The Lost Chapters EP. Now available on the popular digital streaming platforms, the EP features collaborations with All That Remains, Darkest Hour, Caliban, Bury Tomorrow and The Ghost Inside.

As someone that’s constantly on the internet to write about metal every day ad infinitum, myself and everyone at MetalSucks salutes Nik Nocturnal. Hopefully this time away will help him find the clarity he needs.