Poland’s Fright Night have been around for three years now, and from what I can gather The Maddest Stories Ever Told is their first release. It came out towards the end of last year and the band seem to be releasing a lyric video for each of the songs on it. Two are out not, and one more has already been announced.
As the name may suggest, Fright Night have a bit of a horror theme and one look at the song titles and videos will confirm this. It does seem to be a little tongue-in-cheek and there are plenty of little references in the lyrics to typical slasher movie topics. When they wrote to us, they said that “The music we play is inspired by gothic bands like Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus or Type O Negative”. I would add Willie Nelson to this, which is going to sound weird but oddly it was the classic country star’s voice that leapt into my mind when I first listened to “Devil’s Cry”.
This is the final track on the EP, but opens with an acoustic lilt. The slow, sad lyrics and vocal style just sounded… country! Nothing wrong with that, and I just can’t get it out of my head now. Otherwise, yes, the influences listed are very much there.
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“The Killer Must Be Killed” starts the five-song collection off, featuring some nice simple riffs of the head-noddy type. The goth is strong in this one, sung from the viewpoint of the titular killer wanting to “smash your pretty face” and so on. Nicely cheesy and tying in well with the classic horror theme. The solo guitars are good, too. Not too showy, just enough to give a nice bit of filler between verses.
“Black Angel, White Angel” has a much longer instrumental flurry but it doesn’t outstay its welcome, and the track overall is a bit faster paced than the opener. “Eibon” conjures up images of a happy evening at home, round the fire, conjuring up Satan. Or more precisely one of the Lovecraftian “Great Old Ones”. Darkly atmospheric, it’s a decent song. If “Children of the Night” doesn’t immediately make you think of vampires then you’re reading the wrong books / watching the wrong films. An ode to Transylvania’s favourite fictional export, its played with pantomime fervour.
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Fright Night strike me as a band who will perform well. The music is good, but adding some theatrics and the kind of fanbase who will dress for the party and become part of the show could really set them apart. These five songs show a lot of promise, pretty much nailing their sound while not being too much like one another. I do think the production could be a little better, the vocals in particular just seem a little too light in places. A bit more gravitas wouldn’t go amiss.
Worth a listen if your inner goth is screaming for release.
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