It’s always a special moment when your work finds its way into the hands of people who truly listen.
I recently had the honour of seeing Horror Sacri reviewed in Rock Hard Italy — one of the most respected metal magazines in Europe — and it received 7.5 out of 10.
What moved me even more than the rating itself were the words they chose to describe the album. They called it “a paradigm of inner exploration”, a phrase that resonated deeply with me. That’s exactly what this record was meant to be — a reflection of the human condition, of those quiet, uneasy dialogues between faith and doubt, spirit and decay, transcendence and despair.
Horror Sacri was never about adhering to genres or trends. It was an attempt to build bridges between forms of expression that are often seen as opposites: the brutality of extreme metal and the fragility of classical harmony; the bleakness of doom and the improvisational breath of jazz. To me, these are not contradictions — they are different languages that, when spoken together, tell a more complete story about who we are.
What Rock Hard Italy captured so beautifully is that Horror Sacri is not just an album — it’s a journey inward. A search for meaning in the chaos, for light in the ruins. And reading that someone else perceived it in that same way is one of the most rewarding feelings an artist can have.
I’m deeply thankful to the editors and reviewers of Rock Hard Italy for their thoughtful words, and to everyone who has taken the time to listen, reflect, and share this music.
Your attention keeps the dialogue alive.
If you haven’t had the chance to listen to the album yet, you can find Horror Sacri here — or on all major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp.
Thank you for taking the time to explore it.
And if you’d like to purchase a copy, you can do so directly here on my website, or on Bandcamp.
The screenshot below is taken from the original print edition of Rock Hard Italy, October 2025 (page 110), where the review appeared. For easier reading, I’ve also transcribed the text version and included my English translation below.
“Horror Sacri è il quarto capitolo discografico a marchio Darkwave, progetto dietro il quale si cela il musicista e compositore ungherese Zsolt Némethy. Provare a contestualizzare la natura della proposta risulta un’impresa ardua, considerando la varietà delle influenze in gioco: per contro, l’ascolto diventa un’esperienza faconda e gratificante, una volta immersi nel complesso crogiulo di idee elaborate dall’artista. Complice la presenza di due vocalist (una novità assoluta, per quanto riguarda il percorso sin qui sviluppato), Darkwave ha assunto sfumature ancora più stratificate rispetto al recente passato, aggiungendo ulteriori tasselli alla sperimentazione di intrecci che contemplano in egual misura metal estremo, doom, jazz, progressive e musica classica, tanto per citare solo alcune delle influenze. Se poi a tutto ciò si aggiungono una marcata connotazione introspettiva e riflessioni filosofiche ed esistenziali, il quadro si arricchisce ulteriormente: l’album diventa di conseguenza il paradigma di una ricerca interiore che trova nella dimensione musicale il proprio riflesso, inaugurando una nova fase di un’esplorazione condotta senza pregiudizi.”
“Horror Sacri is the fourth album released under the name Darkwave, the project led by Hungarian musician and composer Zsolt Némethy. Defining the nature of this work proves to be a challenging task, given the wide range of influences at play; yet, listening to it becomes a rich and rewarding experience once one dives into the complex crucible of ideas shaped by the artist. With the inclusion of two vocalists – an absolute first in Darkwave’s evolution – the project has taken on even more layered nuances than in the recent past, adding new dimensions to an ongoing experiment that intertwines, in equal measure, extreme metal, doom, jazz, progressive, and classical music, to name just a few of the influences. On top of all this, the strong introspective tone, along with the philosophical and existential reflections, further enrich the overall picture. As a result, the album stands as a paradigm of inner exploration, one that finds its reflection in the musical dimension, inaugurating a new phase of a journey carried out without prejudice or boundaries.”
