Horror Vacui “Shadows Sanctuary” arrives on 7 August 2026 through Artoffact Records, the Italian deathrock band’s first album for the Canadian label. The Bologna five-piece bring a goth rock that mixes deathrock guitars with post-punk and coldwave elements, and the album arrives on a limited green vinyl LP, on CD in a jewel box with booklet, and digitally via Bandcamp. It is the band’s first full-length since 2020 and their first album for the Canadian label.

The record explores the tension between light and darkness as visibility and authenticity in an age of constant exposure. The label’s presentation condenses the theme into one line: the album “reclaims darkness as a space of protection rather than absence”, moving through identity, isolation, love and grief along the way.

An official video accompanies the title track.

‘Shadows Sanctuary’ from intro to outro

The album sequences ten tracks across two vinyl sides. Side A runs “Intro”, “Distressed”, “Writing on the Wall”, “Midnight7” and “Skyless Eyes”; side B holds “A Sunny Day”, “Eventide”, “Another Sleepless Night”, the title track and “Outro”. The CD edition carries the same tracklist. Both formats can be ordered through the band’s Bandcamp page, with European distribution handled by Audioglobe.

About Horror Vacui

Horror Vacui formed in Bologna, Italy in 2010 and have worked through changing line-ups ever since. The band built their catalogue of four albums and numerous singles on tight, guitar-driven songs that fuse deathrock and post-punk, and toured worldwide behind them. After their fourth album in 2020 the group went quiet for several years, returning in 2024 with a limited two-track 7″ single.

That return also brought a line-up change, with former guitar player Marzia moving to the drum stool. The 2024 single served as the prelude to “Shadows Sanctuary”, which now lands as the band’s first album in six years and their Artoffact Records debut.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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