Voices – Frightened (2018)

April 1, 2022

I’m not sure why Voices’ output fell off the radar in the mid 2010s, after the quickfire one-two of albums in 2013 and 2014, but I’d have to assume that it had a lot to do with Akercocke becoming a functioning entity again. In a running theme with a lot of the posts that I have made here recently, I completely missed this record around the time of its release, finally catching up with it in 2020 and only now listening again to commit my thoughts here.

Frightened continues the Voices journey. Sounding nothing like London or Forest (I’m sorry, I’m not typing all that out), yet drawing strong roots from both of them, Frightened sees Voices hone their fragile sound further once again. Dare I say that the metallic elements are dialled back further, if you discount Dave Gray’s sublime blastbeat attacks. I hear post-rock, such as elements used by bands like Anathema, I hear post-punk, such as riffs or motifs used by bands like Killing Joke. I hear even more instrumentation in the form of pianos and strings. I hear progress!

Frightened is a great development in the band’s journey and sound. I look forward to hearing the next record, which I believe hasn’t long been released. How’s that for timing?