Band:	Loviatar
Album:	Lightless
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	April 2020

01. Suffocating Delirium
02. Horse In Thrall
03. Cave In
04. Silca
05. All The Witches You Failed To Burn
06. Lightless

I didn't know that I wanted to hear an alt/post/doom metal hybrid until I came across Lightless, but it turns out they go quite well together.

I saw Loviatar's sophomore record championed in a few places, and being on a constant search for new material during lockdown, I eagerly turned my attention towards Lightless. I've given the record a bunch of listens since its release and enjoyed every one of them; however, I've been a bit mystified by the classification it has been bestowed with. Several reviews described Lightless as a top-notch doom metal album, but whilst I don't argue with the 'top-notch' part, I haven't heard much doom that sounds close to this. Sure, opening track "Suffocating Delirium" is recognizable as doom, with the slow pace, menacing riffs, ethereal guitar leads and soulful vocals. However, the off-kilter rhythms that emerge halfway through the song already shows signs of divergence from the classic Candlemass template, which goes completely out the window by the time we reach "Horse In Thrall".

Now, I'm not normally as brave as some of my fellow reviewers on this website at going against the grain with genre classifications; certainly, I wouldn't have had the courage to label Torche as metalgaze or The Sabbathian as black metal when the world at large considered them to be sludge and doom bands, respectively. However, when I listen to a song such as "Horse In Thrall", I find my mind making comparisons to acts such as Votum, Sermon and Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster amongst others, which are alt, prog and/or post-metal bands, but certainly not doom. Just listen to the slick drum/bass groove and post-rock layering in the opening couple of minutes, the prog/alt-metal rhythms and guitar texturing when the vocals arrive, or the gentle yet impassioned singing as the drums rampage during the song's climax. There are elements on this song that could be considered as related to doom, which is why I mentioned the alt/post/doom tag in the opening line of this review, but I don't know how anyone could hear this song and think "this is a doom metal song"; however, I imagine a lot of people could hear it and think "this is a damn fine song, whatever genre it falls under".

The surprises don't stop coming once this track is over; "Cave In" is the third completely different-sounding song in a row, with its pounding drums driving Loviatar through an uptempo heavy metal cut. "Cave In" is a fun song with some pretty exciting lead guitar work throughout; however, I feel like it doesn't necessarily play to lead singer JD Gobeil's strengths. He pulls off a fairly classic epic doom tone when asked for on "Suffocating Delirium", whilst also effectively delivering the more unconventionally emotional delivery that fits more alt-influenced songs such as "Horse In Thrall". However, on "Cave In", his quick interjections unfortunately sound a bit flat and strained, giving the song a roughness that departs from the richness of most of the other tracks here. At the same time, some may feel like this suits the song's rambunctious vibe.

Lightless sustains the diversity displayed in its first trio of songs up until the end of the record. "Silica" is perhaps the most even combination of the alt/prog, post- and doom elements, with Gobeil suddenly channelling Ozzy Osbourne when he sings; it's a fairly mesmerizing combination. And just when you feel like there's no chance to be surprised any more, Loviatar set aside nearly 5 minutes on a sub-40-minute album for an acoustic guitar instrumental interlude, and what a delightfully vibrant interlude "All The Witches You Failed To Burn" is. Without wanting to turn this into a song-by-song review, I feel obliged to touch upon the 10-minute closing title track, which like "Silica" brings all the various elements together for one emphatic closing statement; however, this is probably the track that most leans towards doom outside of the opening track, with its slower pace, vocal melodies and melancholic guitar work.

It's impressive to have six songs that sound this diverse on such a short album without it feeling a bit disjointed, but Loviator pull off this exercise in genre-bending effortlessly through impressive flexibility across the board in terms of how they approach each song instrumentally, not to mention some damn fine songwriting. Quibbles over genre classifications aside, Lightless is a top-notch release, and it will be fascinating to see how Loviatar develop stylistically on any future releases.