Published: April 19, 2025

It shouldn’t be a shock to anyone that black metal can be quite the evocative sound. With all sorts of different avenues that the sound can take, it’s no surprise that such a dark and bleak sound has become home to one of the more emotional aspects of metal music despite what many regard black metal as a whole as: cold and uncomforting. Despite that, the corner of black metal out there that dives headfirst into the most depressive aspect of the sound is something that can harbor some of the more compelling acts that black metal has to offer. With its debut album, Listless offers us a tremendous testament as to why that’s the case.

Already having more than enough experience in other black metal acts like Liminal Shroud, the mastermind behind Listless clearly knew what he was doing well before even writing the first note for this creation. As such, the pitfalls that can come from depressive black metal are effortlessly avoided and, instead, give the record the chance to grow well beyond our expectations with virtually every given moment of this bleak record something to call its own and something that we can really become lost within. There is beauty in a macabre sense of despair, loss, and other such emotions, and it would be a gross understatement to make the claim that Listless did not channel all of that magnificently across these seven tracks. More than capable of pulling off the slow aspects of this sound while always ensuring there’s room for speed and evisceration of the flesh amongst the spiritual rending that’s constantly going on, it’s throughout the whole of this record that Listless does a tremendous job at making this a multi-dimensional record that’s always ebbing and flowing, beckoning you further into the abyss that Listless holds dominion over rather than crafting some flat creation that feels tiring to listen to rather than fully immersing you in a dark wreath of despair like what we have here. The flickering light that appears in this record teases you as you claw for some semblance of salvation, but there is none to be had as long as Listless has something to say about it.

Ever further are you pulled into this record’s darkness with jagged hooks that sink oh so deep, there is no escape from what Listless delivers in this compelling debut. Depressive black metal may not be everyone’s favorite when it comes to what black metal can pull off, yet it’s when the sound comes into the hands of an act like Listless that are able to craft such a work with real care, finesse, and intense attention to detail that such suffering feels no less than immensely exquisite. This is a creation like few others with the potential to grab ahold of the sound like what None pulled off being quite high. Listless needs only to stay the course.