On their 2006 debut album Nord, the band combined a dark and aggressive sludge metal sound with psychedelic atmospheres inspired by post-rock and shoegazing.

Following the good feedbacks surrounding the demo (one review describing Year of No Light as "The Cure playing Sludge"[2]), the band worked on its first album during the summer 2005.

At the end of the summer, Year of No Light becomes a six-piece entity with two drummers, one bassist, and three guitarists, backed by some vintage synths.

In April 2010, following the release of Ausserwelt on Conspiracy, Year of No Light toured Europe with Irish black metallers Altar of Plagues.

The following month, the band worked on a soundtrack for Dreyer's Vampyr, and performed it for the first time, on 28 May 2010, at Barbey Theatre in Bordeaux.

The following months, after having recorded new material for upcoming splits, they toured Europe and played two sets at Roadburn: a classical gig (including the totality of Ausserwelt) and the Vampyr performance.

[7] The group worked with French contemporary artist Christian Vialard on Le Temps de l'Ecoute, a video installation reinventing Yves Klein's Monotone Symphony, exhibited at la Villa Arson in 2011.