Review by Michael on May 3, 2025.

My first thought when I saw the cover of What Lies Ahead was that I will get to hear some technical death metal for the upcoming minutes. The band logo looks pretty much like what bands in that genre do and so does the somewhat mysterious cover that may be connected with some obscure Greek philosophical topics. You know, Socrates, Plato and all these old weirdos who lived in barrels and caves.

But actually the music has not much to do with tech-death nor with any cavernous sounds we are used to hear from bands like Spectral Voice or Mortiferum. To be honest, there isn't too much death metal in their music at all. Frightful from Gdansk, Poland focus more on some fast thrash with a lot of punk attitude in their songs.

It is some really technical thrash the quartet is performing on their second full-length out via Godz Ov War Productions but not too demanding for the listener though. There are many blast beat attacks in the drumming like in "Disincarnate Sower" and the riffs are violently attacking and cut like a knife.

And although I always like to describe an unknown bands' style in comparison to other, better known bands, I find it quite hard to tell how they might sound. It is something quite unique that the guys have created and it is something that sounds very interesting. Maybe (in some parts only) there are some similarities to Death (to their "Human" and "Individual Thoughts Patterns" era) when you listen to the title track (that starts with an exquisite acoustic intro) or a thrashy version of Vader (like in "No Fear" which has a cool groovy part in the middle of it). There are many small references to bands that shine up for just a few seconds but it is really difficult to classify the band.

A track I personally like very much is "Into The Phantom Hearts". It is kept quite simple, comes along in a slight mid-tempo groove and is a quite catchy one. The chorus is also very simple and memorable just like the other vocals, too. This one is maybe the one that comes closest to a traditional thrash song (and again do we find some (old) Death reminiscences in the riffing).

But as we all know, taste is very individual and so there are probably a lot of other opinions which might be the most outstanding track. What is to state is that the guys have written a really good album with many cool ideas and if you support the underground, What Lies Ahead should be worth checking. You will get some really nice thrash songs that are produced really powerful and well-balanced. Maybe a bright future will lie ahead for Frightful.

Rating: 8 out of 10