The concept of fear is something not very well-explored in the realms of Heavy Metal. At least not with a good execution. In my opinion, this is due to the "manly" and "badass" image most metal bands (especially in more traditional genres like Thrash) try to rock. Even when they delve into darker or more personal subjects (like with Nu Metal bands such as KORN, SLIPKNOT, or even LINKIN PARK), they still stand on a strong pedestal and don't express their brokenness and actual vulnerability, for the feeling of fear itself, at least. That's why today's record, "Frightened" proved to be an interesting record, especially given its Prog Death/Black musical style.

The album has somewhat simple and straightforward song titles which never seem to match up completely with the songs themselves. They went with a consistent and overarching approach, both vocally and lyrically. The song-lengths hardly vary, there's the 1,5 minute "Fascinator" and the 6,5 minute "Home Movies" (which sounds kind of Sinister-esque horror-ish, if you get that reference) and the closing "Footsteps". These end-of-spectrum-length songs are easily the best the record has to offer, with "Sequences" having a kind of filler role tying them together. Not as good as the trio, but still a decent track. That pretty much applies to all tracks, the qualities of which range from "okay" to "pretty good", not one of them manage to live up to the simple, yet amazing melody of "Fascinator", the creepy and emotional voices (get it?) and bass work of "Home Movies", or the triumphant feel and true solace-filled strings of "Footsteps". There are great ideas and executions besides these three though, like the production choices in "Evaporated", mixing the acoustic and electric guitars on "IWSYA", or the part from 0:45 in "Unknown", which gave me massive DSBM vibes.

Overall, with all of its flaws and low-amount genericness, I can say that VOICES managed to make a record with great honesty, authentic and effective atmosphere, and immersive production. Good job, guys.