The album's sound was heavily inspired by Cult Leader's cover of "You Are Not My Blood" found on Useless Animal,[6] originally by the indie/folk collaboration between Mark Kozelek and Desertshore from their eponymous 2013 album, Mark Kozelek & Desertshore. Vocalist Anthony Lucero sees himself as being "in the same vocal range" as musicians such as Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Michael Gira, and the fruitful sessions that resulted in "You Are Not My Blood" encouraged Cult Leader to incorporate more of these styling into their metallicpunk sound.[6] Lucero said Lightless Walk saw Cult Leader exploring how to write songs that incorporated these two textural elements to balance each other out. He elaborated: "There has to be some sort of silver lining existing somewhere in the world to counterbalance depression. And I tend to write about that a lot."[6] Lyrically, Lightless Walk explores ideas of depression, isolation, sadness and hope.[7]
