Lightless Walk is the debut studio album by American metalcore band Cult Leader.

[5] The track "Gutter Gods" previously appeared on Cult Leader's 2015 EP Useless Animal.

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 metallic punk 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.