Vipassi's Lightless has a rather primitivist presentation, ritualistic-sounding titles and a cover featuring a circle of naked women dancing around a fire in the dark.  I am hitherto unfamiliar with the band; they released one prior album in 2016 Śūnyatā, also released on Season of Mist.  Based on the presentation, I expected some kind of tribal soundscape or esoteric doom metal.  And what I got is indeed metal, with a kind of nocturnal, esoteric air, but it’s significantly more progressive and melodic than I was expected.

The style here incorporates the tremolo guitars and blast beats of black metal, but pairs it with a rather cinematic style of dynamics and a strong emphasis on melancholic but sweetly tuneful melody in the idiom of melodic Scandinavian metal or, in the lighter moments, post-rock.  I hear influence from Gorguts, particularly in the rainiest, dissonant moments within the guitar work.

The warmly expressive tone of Arran McSporran's agile fretless bass work reminds me of moments in metal history where the bass has taken the lead, such as Cynic's Focus, Opeth's Morningrise, or all of Atheist's albums.  The bass playing is every bit as melodic and densely written as the guitar, and their interplay forms a stunningly intricate tapestry of tonality.  This finger-picked style of playing is primarily derived from jazz fusion, without much of the clanking 'thud' of the picked bass tone found in a lot of less melodic metal.   By now, it has made its way into metal many times, most recently in the 'djent' movement, which took heavy influence from fusion.  In tracks such as the subdued second piece, "Labyrinthine Hex", the bassist takes a strident lead melody, and takes full advantage of the fretlessness of the instrument with quavering vibratos and bends.  This is one of the most incredible performances in this style I've heard, and in my opinion, McSporran steals the show.

There are some wide contrasts between soft and heavy, but I would say overall, the pieces flow together and unite into one feeling, to a larger extent than in the case of some 'everything and the kitchen sink' progressive bands like Between the Buried and Me, who can certainly play a massive variety of sounds, but often switch between them with a whimsical snap of the fingers, rather than truly making the journey from one to the other.  The feeling of this album reminds me more of the feelings evoked by a band like Neurosis, a sort of world-weary, all-seeing stare into the vastness of time and history, a feeling which does not change whether the band is playing fast or slow, soft or heavy.

Such is the inspired, complex instrumental writing throughout the album that it took me several songs to notice the band has no vocalist.  Certainly, there is no need for one; every moment on the recording has plenty of movement and ideas to draw attention.

Lightless is one of the best instrumental progressive metal albums I've ever heard, rivalling many of my favorite bands, particularly in the stunning bass performance.  Highly recommended to fans of jazz metal groups like Cynic and Candiria, as well as more moody fare like Gorguts and Neurosis, and fans of djent or even jazz.  The tasteful use of dynamics on this album means it could appeal even to people usually perturbed by the relentless sonic density of metal.