REVIEW: SIIICKBRAIN - HOUNDSTOOTH

With HOUNDSTOOTH, SIIICKBRAIN builds a record that feels like stepping into a dark, sweat-soaked room and letting the walls close around you. It is abrasive, hazy, clubby, vulnerable, and strange in all the right ways, pulling from industrial grit, electronic production, hip-hop beats, alternative pop structures, and something far more instinctive. It never feels interested in sitting neatly within one sound, and that restlessness becomes part of its identity.

The album opens with a short, haunting intro, almost mechanical in its delivery, declaring “this is the sound of breaking the loop” before launching straight into PALO SANTO. It is an effective introduction to the world SIIICKBRAIN is creating here, immediately pairing rave-like instrumentals with softer, more ghostly vocals. That contrast becomes one of the album’s biggest strengths. There is a constant push and pull between aggression and fragility, between control and collapse, and HOUNDSTOOTH often feels most powerful when those sides are allowed to clash. FILTHY, featuring FETISH, is a standout example, carrying a sense of intoxicating danger that made it such a strong single before the album’s release. Its heavy, industrial-leaning production and club-ready pulse make it feel grimy and physical, with punchy drums and distortion giving the track a razor-sharp edge. SIIICKBRAIN’s vocals sit somewhere between seduction and menace, making the title feel deliberate rather than decorative.

DELICATE is another example of that masterful tension. Built around a trap-leaning, hip-hop influenced beat, it starts with a vulnerability that feels bruised but not passive. Lines like “they promised it all, left me worse than before, I did what was told but they just wanted more” are open enough to be read through multiple lenses, whether that is toxic love, exploitative friendships, or the pressure of industries built on image and consumption. As the track progresses, SIIICKBRAIN delivers “I’m tired of being the victim”, with the vocals eventually becoming harsher and more forceful, cutting against the softness suggested by the title. By the end, this track feels less like a confession and more like a breaking point. That sense of taking power back runs throughout the whole album. 

There are repeated images of godhood across HOUNDSTOOTH, not in a hollow, ego-driven way, but as a kind of survival mantra. On I WOKE UP ALIVE, the repetition of “I am a god” lands with a ritualistic force, as though saying it enough times might make it feel real. It taps into the wider emotional thread of the record: reclaiming autonomy, rewriting old patterns, and finding empowerment not through easy triumph, but through confrontation.

Elsewhere, HER introduces one of the album’s more accessible moments, with a chorus that almost leans into pop. In another context, that might soften the record too much, but here it works surprisingly well against the layered electronic details surrounding it. It is arguably one of the lighter-sounding tracks on the album, but still feels distinctly tied to the same world, never losing the eerie, off-kilter quality that makes HOUNDSTOOTH so compelling. By the time closing track FAWN arrives, the album pulls back slightly from some of its denser moments, but without losing any of its atmosphere. It feels darkly cinematic and shadowy, letting the record fade out with tension rather than closure. 

While each track holds its own, HOUNDSTOOTH is especially rewarding when listened to in full. Across the album, SIIICKBRAIN creates a world that is confrontational, contradictory, and occasionally uncomfortable, but still deeply magnetic. Some moments are more disjointed than others, though that never feels like a flaw. If anything, it suits a record built around shedding old versions of the self and refusing to be made smaller. HOUNDSTOOTH is a bold, sharply produced step forward from an artist who clearly understands the power of making chaos feel intentional.

Score: 8/10

HOUNDSTOOTH will be released on 3rd June 2026 via NOWHERE Recordings.

Words: Zuzanna Pazola

Photos: Giovanni Varlonga