I’ve been lucky enough to catch Sick N’ Beautiful on each of their three Glasgow appearances over the last few years, the most recent being genuinely by chance as I didn’t know they were ing Lordi! Each time they’ve impressed, their live show is excellent, and each time they’ve definitely left with more fans than they arrived with. I know that both Luis and Angela (two of our photographers) were blown away with that more recent show.
Their tour with Lordi was perhaps just a few weeks to early with Horror Vacui only just creeping out of the alien depths, and they did feature some material from it in their live set including opener (both live and album) “(Human Is) Overrated”.
The question is, how well does Sick N’ Beautiful’s music stand up without the glorious visuals that their live show provides? Short answer: very well indeed. Horror Vacui is one industrial/goth metal banger after another. “Death Police” is lovely and abrasive, while “Hate Manifesto” (which also got an airing on tour) is a catchy stadium number that Halestorm would be proud of.
Funnily enough I would also pick out “Raise The Dragon” as another highlight, and this is the third song they went with for their stage show. Mine you, it’s up against “Railride”. And the wonderful atmospheric intro to “God Save The Bride” which turns into one of the hardest hitting numbers on the album.
“The Rat King” is a fist pumper or foot stomper (your preference), though final song “Diggety Dig Dig” does seem out of place. It’s a decent number about burying someone where nobody will find them, but the title is simply too close to Windrose’s dwarven mining cover song that I want it to be more silly.
By now you can tell that I really like this album. I also really like the band. Their work ethic, attitude towards their fans, talent and quality of music really makes me want to see them do well. The production on the album is superb, and singer Herma has a wonderful vocal edge of Maria Brink about her in places.
If you’re at all into Lordi, Alice Cooper, Halestorm, In This Moment or anything of that ilk then you absolutely must check out Horror Vacui (and, indeed, the rest of Sick N’ Beautiful’s back catalogue)
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Horror Vacui is out on April 18th
Header image by Elizaveta Yudina – Kinorama Studio
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