The very prospect of creating a sound that’s as uncompromising, unyielding, and all-powerful with depths that seem truly unending is something that a small corner of doom metal and its contemporaries are constantly striving for, but it’s because such a goal feels relatively niche that such creations are few and far between. It’s a sound that I’ve always found myself searching for since I first stumbled upon its years ago, and my fascination with it is still unending even if it can be months between releases of such that manage to catch my attention. With its debut EP, Germany’s Lightless is a more than worthy name that brings that very magnificence to the table in a big way with every corner of this dark, dense cavern nothing to underestimate for even a second.

While such a concept can be intimidating to those who are unfamiliar and unvetted by such intensity, there is nothing quite like being able to lose yourself in the throes of immense darkness and untold creatures therein should the sound be accomplished by a band who knows precisely what they’re doing and how to craft such an experience in intense and exemplary fashion. Just by looking at the very tracklist and immense length of “Descent to Insignificance”, it should become extremely clear to all who venture into the supreme darkness of this debut of Lightless that the trio is absolutely the real deal, nothing to scoff at whatsoever, and a name that immediately deserves to have a very sharp eye kept on at all times. The sheer unforgiving nature of the entire 47-minute runtime of this album is something you truly have to surrender yourself to should you come upon even a shred of understanding as to the true, dark majesty of the record that’s put before us as the raw sense of primordial catharsis washes over the listener like the uncaring ocean in such fashion that one cannot help but become swept away by the raw darkness that Lightless wields with stunning precision and wild predisposition that stops all in its path. There is naught by claustrophobia and impenetrable darkness to make the very name of “Descent to Insignificance” apt in every regard, and it should be considered an insult not to say that Lightless has done a wondrous job at excelling in every aspect of the sound they sought to deliver.

Hands down, this is one of the hardest veins of slow, soul-devouring doom that is to be found out there with very few managing to craft an interesting experience out of such odds, but it’s right from the beginning that Lightless succeeds where many others flounder helplessly. There is true power and terror within the vast space between these massive notes with every possible inch of “Descent to Insignificance” unforgiving from the start and wrenching unto its fall further into madness at the closing of the record.

LISTEN to “Descent to Insignificance” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Lightless on Facebook here.