Answered Paweł Snarski (guitars), thank you!
Recenze/review - FRIGHTFUL - What Lies Ahead (2025):
https://www.deadlystormzine.com/2025/02/recenzereview-frightful-what-lies-ahead.html
Ave FRIGHTFUL! I couldn't find any interview with you in Czech anywhere. So I'll ask you first to introduce the band to the readers who don't know you yet. You can start from the beginning and take us through the whole history of FRIGHTFUL.
PS: Hey! It all started at the turn of 2016 and 2017. Fascinated by old school Death and Grindcore, We decided that we will try to make something ala Terrorizer, Napalm Death, Carcass, first albums of Cannibal Corpse etc. We were quite young at the time and liked to smoke a lot of weed, so band was purely for fun. In a few months we wrote a total of 6 songs, which we thought were quite good, so we decided to find a name and release it at our own expense, as an EP. The material was well received and we started touring all over Poland. We even managed to go to Lithuania, Latvia and the Czech Republic. At that time, we released an EP and Split, which we are not entirely happy with today, but they were just mistakes of our youth. When Covid started, we decided it was time to take it to the next level. We started writing better, more melodic and technical material, and we persuaded a second guitarist, Mateusz Mencel, to cooperate. Following the release of "Spectral Creator", many better shows and overall development, in early 2023 Mateusz decided to leave the band. After finding a new guitarist (Eryk Jakubczyk) and returning to performing after less than 4 months, we started writing material for our second LP "What Lies Ahead", which will be released on February 28. And so, here we are now.
This year you have just released a fresh new album "What Lies Ahead". Once again it is dark, gritty and honest death thrash metal. Did you approach the recording differently than last time or did you go with tried and tested methods?
PS: 'Spectral Creator' was, above all, quite a brave test of our skills. "What Lies Ahead" is simply the beginning of what we want to continue. We tried to capture all the best from the debut and polish it better with compositions and sound. And I think we succeeded.
I find the new record an order of magnitude more complicated, maybe less accessible at first, but at the same time incredibly dark and evil. Was that the intention? How was the album actually created and how did you compose the music?
PS: Even though we liked Spectral very much, we were somewhat aware that there was not enough darkness there. This is both his advantage and disadvantage. With the new material, we wanted to go more towards this "dark and evil" side, while maintaining the atmosphere of the previous one.
I have "What Lies Ahead" in my MP3 player and I have to say that I am literally consumed by it. It's not just the great ideas, but the sound, which is in a word devastating. For example, I'm sitting on a tram and suddenly I find myself tapping my foot. I feel like partying. If I weren't a gentleman of my years, I'd probably do it. Where did you record the album and who is the mastering engineer?
PS: The creator of this beautiful mix is Maciej Nejman from studio 147. The same one who is responsible for our debut. Even though we demanded a lot and spent a lot of time on the sound, the way this album sounds is mostly due to him. We are always pleased to work with Maciej.
Who wrote the lyrics on "What Lies Ahead"? And what are they about? Where do you get inspiration for the themes?
PS: All lyrics are written by guitarist Paweł Snarski. They are a collection of everything that bothers me and refers to several personal experiences and traumas. Of course, the topics are very broad, so I also hope that fans will interpret them in their own way. When it comes to finding words, apart from old dictionaries, I liked to look into the texts of Dissection, Vektor, Blood Incantation or Death, but mostly I focused on finding lesser used words and the "stories" I wanted to tell.
Who signed the cover art for "What Lies Ahead"? I like his work a lot. How did you choose the theme for the cover?
PS: The guy's name is N.Zuki. He is probably from Japan, as I remember, and you can find him under name Belial NecroArts. I never met him, of course, we only quickly discussed the cover art via Facebook. About the theme, there is a quite specific story. One time I was watching "The Walking Dead", and saw, that one of the episodes was named "What Lies Ahead".I really liked this title, so I kept it in my mind. After some time, I gave this title to one of our tracks and when I looked at all the lyrics from the album, I decided that this name would be perfect.
If we look back to the beginning... What was the first impulse to put the band together? And why death and thrash metal? They're not exactly styles that would get you a lot of "fame".
PS: As I said in first question, we were quite young at the time when band started, and it was purely for fun. We always loved this genres, so we started to play it. Not for fame, but for music.
You come from Gdansk and play extreme death thrash metal. Our readers would be interested to know how the death thrash metal scene works in Poland. To tell you the truth, lately I've been hearing from you only great bands again. Does it mean that the scene is very strong in your country nowadays? What about gigs, how many people come?
PS: Maybe not exactly the Death/Thrash Metal scene is doing well, but the general metal scene here is doing really well. There are plenty of great bands, like: Gallower, Species, Nightbound, Armagh, Sex Mag, R I P, Leprozorium or Morrath. It’s very good time to be young metal band here. Gigs are usually pretty good, with the number of people approx 100, to 250 on bigger events.
From your music you can feel that you are influenced by the American death thrash metal school as well as old European bands. How are you as fans? Do you prefer the original death metal of the 90s or do you draw inspiration from new records as well? If so, I wonder which bands had/have the biggest influence on FRIGHTFUL?
PS: Even though we don't hear it much here, there is one new band that strongly influenced us, or at least me, and it’s Blood Incantation. Very talented guys. From oldschool stuff, there will be Dissection and Death for sure. The rest is for sure our contribution.
What about you and gigs in general? Are you a band that goes to shows as much as possible or do you pick and choose a lot? Do you have a dream, like a band you'd like to tour with or a festival, city you'd like to perform in?
PS: Maybe sometimes we give up some, but usually we try to take most of the gigs. As for dreams, it would be nice to support some still existing giant, such as Carcass or Morbid Angel on Europe or USA tour.
We're coming to the end and so I'd like to try a more philosophical question. How would you define the style called death thrash metal? What is this music to you and why did you choose this style?
PS: I chose it because I think it's the most raw and abrasive music, with a certain sense of seriousness to it all. I love Black Metal, but I am often repelled by its appearance or its extremely degraded quality. It is most appropriate to reality, and that is the best thing about it.
What is FRIGHTFUL going to do in the next few months?
PS: Playing gigs, promoting new album and having fun of course.
I'm going to listen to your new album "What Lies Ahead" again. I have to say that for me personally it is basically a perfect death thrash metal masterpiece. A total inferno. I wish the record to do well, to reach as many fans as possible. It deserves it. I wish you all the best in your personal life. Good luck and the last words are yours. If you have something to say to fans, labels, promoters, you have space. Thank you for the interview and I'm already looking forward to seeing you live sometime!
PS: Really, thank you too! Everything promises to be a better success than in the case of the debut. Special thanks to Greg from Godz ov War, Maciej Nejman from studio 147, our girls and of course our fans!
Recenze/review - FRIGHTFUL - What Lies Ahead (2025):
Recenze/review - FRIGHTFUL - Spectral Creator (2021):
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