Sick n’ Beautiful – Horror Vacui – Album Review

SICK N’ BEAUTIFUL’s Horror Vacui made me reconsider every decision that led to this moment—chiefly, the one where I chose to preserve my hearing.

These Roman mutants aren’t making music. They’re staging an auditory assault, the kind that should probably come with a warning label and a waiver. The guitars sound like a demolition crew taking sledgehammers to an electrical substation during a blackout. I played it for my cat. Now, she stares into corners like she’s waiting for something to crawl out.

Herma doesn’t sing. She inflicts. One minute, she’s shrieking like she’s on fire; the next, she’s whispering in a tone that suggests she started the fire—and enjoyed it. If Courtney Love is a thunderstorm, Herma is the reactor meltdown that follows. My smoke alarm triggered during track two. No smoke. Just vibes.

The electronic elements don’t so much “enhance” the music as corrode it from the inside. It’s not ambiance—it’s digital rot, pulsing through every track like some parasitic code infecting your hardware. Around track five, my speaker started making a low hissing sound and now refuses to play anything but Gregorian chant. Possibly unrelated. Possibly not.

These aren’t songs. They’re confessions from machines that learnt too much about the human condition and snapped. Themes like extinction, surveillance, and emotional decay- your average bedtime story if your bedtime was in a nuclear fallout shelter.

The album’s pacing is pure psychological warfare. The loud parts feel like you’ve just been told your blood type doesn’t exist. The quiet moments are worse—they give you time to reflect, which you immediately regret.

Would I put this on at a social gathering? Absolutely. I tested it out at my cousin’s wedding. By Hate Manifested, the best man was filing for annulment, the priest was chain-smoking behind the altar, muttering about “the old gods”, and Grandma’s blouse started flashing like an SOS beacon. I’ve been blacklisted from all family functions until further notice.

Rome didn’t raise these mutants—Rome endured them. I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire city exhaled in collective relief the day their van rolled out. The studio responsible should probably be sealed in concrete. I once made the mistake of listening to the entire album through headphones. Woke up 72 hours later in my tub, surrounded by poultry remains and cryptic math scribbled in what might’ve been coagulated regret. Also, the left half of my scalp refuses to participate in hair growth now.
Score 8/10
Track List
“Horror Vacui” Tracklist:
1.    (Human Is) Overrated
2.    My Wounds
3.    Death Police
4.    Haunted
5.    Hate Manifesto
6.    Septem Maleficas
7.    Raise The Dragon
8.    Railride
9.    God Save The Bride
10.    The Rat King
11.    Diggity Dig Dig

Label – Frontiers
Release –  18th April 2025
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