NI-KI whips a chess piece over in JAKE’s direction. The red king. On the chessboard, SUNGHOON’s shining white pieces battle it out with JAKE’s red ones in an epic duel. This scene from the “DESIRE: UNLEASH” preview, released on May 23, echoes the way ENHYPEN’s love stories unfold like a game of chess—fierce, but with restrained emotion. From denial (“Polaroid Love”) to anxiety (“No Doubt”) and even jealousy (“Brought The Heat Back”), ENHYPEN’s love songs burn with every intense variation of the emotion. It’s the searing tragedy of an immortal being falling in love with a mortal human. At the same time, because they each fall for a human, they strive to understand how such a fragile, fleeting human feels. In “Still Monster,” the boys designate themselves—with their dangerous powers—monsters, and since each “dares, baby / To want you,” they suppress that monstrous side to protect the one they call their “only savior”—the one who taught them to love. Meanwhile, in “XO (Only If You Say Yes),” they seek “permission” just to provide “a cooler car and a house” and even “pluck the sun, the moon for you.” For a vampire who knows how dangerous he is, love means willingly and selflessly handing over the leash.

The music video for “No Doubt,” released before “DESIRE: UNLEASH,” ends with NI-KI smashing through a door using his now lobster claw-like arm. Because they only grow stronger with age, lobsters are a symbol of eternal life, and so this can be seen to suggest that vampires can obtain whatever they desire thanks to their powers. Sometime after they’ve broken the door down, the events of “DESIRE Concept Cinema,” another trailer for the new album, unfold. They explain the curse that besets them: The more they love someone, the more they want to destroy them. They choose to appear on TV—“because I want to be seen. To remind you that I exist. To remind myself”—and audiences even witness them drinking someone’s blood in unedited footage. Now the world knows the threat that vampires pose—and their desire hidden deep in the darkness. The title of the album’s first track, “Flashover,” refers to when flammable materials in a tightly enclosed space go up in flames all at once. The group’s feeling of suffocation when there was “no exit” in “No Doubt” erupts in “Flashover” (“I break taboos and turn to flame / Let up on the leash”). “Outside,” on the other hand, is more direct. Here, they ask their beloved to make the jump into “my world” with them. Ashamed, they declare that the sacrifices they’d made for this other person thus far, or “the will to protect you / Doesn’t matter anymore.” This intense “sound of desire” dominates the entire song through rapping that’s as in-your-face as it is loud. ENHYPEN has long been exploring the true emotions belonging to vampires, and “DESIRE: UNLEASH” arguably marks a turning point—one where the group has moved beyond their existential struggle between immortality and mortality and allows their unbridled instincts to convey an eruption of pure desire.

By contrast, in the lead single, “Bad Desire (With or Without You),” which appears in the tracklist between “Flashover” and “Outside,” the vampires seem to be consumed by inner turmoil. Was it given, or was it taken? Tamed, or dashed? A blessing, or a curse? ENHYPEN has wrestled with dichotomies like these ever since their debut, and they find themselves once again facing the problem of this or that: Is it better to share their fate with the one they love, forcing that person to bear the same curse so they can stay together longer—or should they protect them from that fate, even if it means a fleeting love? Alternating within them are a voice that wants to protect this pure person and another that’s fueled by selfishness (“Even if I cast the same eternal curse / You’ll still smile for me in joy”). This inner conflict between “a heaven without you” and “a hell where I embrace you” is mirrored in the choreography when they clutch their heads in agonizing uncertainty or gaze skyward as if searching for answers. They move rapidly to the beat, bringing the tension up to an absolute peak, which they periodically release by extending their bodies for dramatic contrast. This makes “Tell me all your deepest … desires” feel like the whispered lure of a demon that’s walking among ENHYPEN—either alongside or as part of them. Their desire to help their loved one hold onto humanity remains in conflict with their other desire. Like a battle between ego and alter ego, “DESIRE: UNLEASH” illustrates the ceaseless inner clash between vampiric desire and restraint.

In “Flashover,” the vampires’ emotions swell to their peak with the line “Burning brighter, I go crazy / You should take this fire with me” as the beat drops, signaling a seismic shift. Instead of feeling cathartic, this dramatic change only increases the tension, encapsulating the core idea behind “DESIRE: UNLEASH.” A vampire’s desire is never fully satisfied. Instead, they agonize until the very end over whether they need to act on their impulses and stay with the one they love or suppress their desires entirely—another this-or-that conundrum. The line “Set ablaze by this beautiful fire / It’s all my bad desire” in the chorus to “Bad Desire (With or Without You)” doesn’t rely on showy falsetto or vocal fills, instead resolving simply with a descending melody. Lines in the verses (like “This isn’t right / Don’t touch, don’t do it / Even if I stop my hand reaching out to you / The moon, so massive you could touch it / Bathes my desire in crimson red”) are delivered with clipped, deliberate force on every syllable. These decisions give the vocals in the song an edge of emotional turmoil and contradiction, a constant expression of desire that’s simultaneously suppressed. Leading to strained tension is the emotion the members of ENHYPEN convey with their vocals, through which they express the conflict over deep temptation that must not be given into—like an alter ego that gives an even greater sense of distance, as if instructing from afar to draw out and confront “all your bad desires.” In agonizing over the question of “with or without,” the vampires linger on that “or” with self-restraint, and it’s that sinister tension that makes them, and their dark desires, so captivating.

Unlike with the dark, tension-filled mood of the first three tracks, the album does a 180 with “Loose,” a track that, like the title points to, is noticeably more relaxed. “Loose,” “Helium,” and “Too Close” are all much lighter love songs. “Too Close” is all about being incredibly close to someone but still being too nervous to reach out to them, and “Loose” similarly catches the listener off guard and draws them in through the group’s incredible falsetto. Produced by JAY, “Helium” channels the very essence of its namesake, the element with the lowest boiling point, portraying love as an explosive emotion that ignites with even the slightest provocation, all conveyed through a rock-infused sound. The pulsating bass that underpins the whole track makes it lively and dynamic, while the group sings with velvety vocals that feel languid yet tantalizing, constantly on the verge of boiling over. Even with these more upbeat tracks, “DESIRE: UNLEASH” remains subtly tense, capturing nervous feelings that clash, conflict, and teeter on the edge of eruption. Although two English songs close out the album, the track that really brings the story to its conclusion is “Too Close,” with even its title perfectly capturing what ENHYPEN works to express throughout the whole album: the desire to be incredibly close to the one you love. The rhythmic piano and the trembling vocals with audible breathing in the a cappella chorus work together to make it feel like they’re singing just inches away from you, laying their love bare. Even as they long to get closer, though, they repeat, “I gotta move back.” They’re so close that the object of their affection can “calmly provoke” ENHYPEN until their “nerves melt,” leading them to sing, “I can’t take it anymore.” But the way they deliver the lines remains remarkably restrained. Is it a vow to fulfill their desires—or a sigh of resignation, knowing they can’t?

But back to the game of chess. SUNGHOON’s pristine white queen glides across enemy territory, stopping right in front of the red king, but not a single red piece dares challenge her. In chess, the king doesn’t fall—when checkmate is declared, the game simply ends. But in this game, things are different. The red king kneels before the white queen. Once boastfully declaring “the world is my chessboard” (“Teeth”), these young vampires appear to surrender at the drop of a hat when it comes to love. Even as they lay the “curse”-like inner darkness bare, the purity of their love seems unchanged. “To be with you, or to not be with you”—they’re the ones asking the question, but the power to answer lies entirely with this other person. Ultimately, although ENHYPEN is able to “UNLEASH” their “DESIRE” through the album, it still can’t be resolved—because that other person hasn’t given an answer. Just like the choreography for “Bad Desire (With or Without You),” which starts and ends with the same tormented grasping at the self, their anguish is unending. No matter what they’re going to do, it all starts with first finding out what that other person wants. And so, the vampires continue to whisper, “Only you can tame me.” There’s nothing more dangerous than a vampire, but there’s one person they’re willing to be tamed by. This paradoxical confession is at the heart of ENHYPEN’s vision of love.