The Industrial-meets-Metal meets Electronic, meets any-other-genre-they-fancy trio HEALTH have made a name for themselves in the music world by doing what the name implies, anything they want to.
Whether they’re collabing with numerous artists such as Poppy, Nine Inch Nails, or even rapper, JPEGMAFIA, they’re doing whole new takes on classic songs such as their renowned cover of “Blue Monday.”
That being said, there can be no expectations for what the band are going to come out with next, and their latest album Rat Wars (Loma Vista Recordings) is no exception.
Slow, moody, and dank sounds begin the first track, “DEMIGODS”, with a light guitar melody taking centre stage. This gloomy introduction to the album acts in a sense as a continuation from their previous album.
It isn’t long before this tone is joined abruptly by a conjoined electronic drumbeat and chugging guitar rhythm, bringing in some of the sounds experimented in on their DISCO4 albums.
Jake Duzsik’s voice remains as eerie as always, bringing an otherworldly atmosphere to the band’s sound. The end result of this mishmash of genres creates a vibe almost similar to Mick Gordon’s Doom soundtrack last decade.
There is no moment that Rat Wars gives you a chance to understand where the band are heading next, whether it’s industrial electronic vibes of the opening scene of the first Blade film in “Future of Hell”, it suddenly springs some of the most relentless metal riffs that the band have ever created. This unpredictability keeps the listener on their feet throughout.
“Crack Metal” is where the band’s qualities truly shine through, bringing forth more industrial metal elements from the likes of Nine Inch Nails. The band manages to perfectly encapsulate the frantic nature of Trent Reznor’s intense music making ability.
The drumbeat running throughout added a whole added layer of depth and added urgency. It is clear that the trio brought over some inspirations after their collaboration with Reznor in the last project.
Distinct similarities between “Crack Metal” and “Wish” can be drawn from the frantic guitar strums alongside the dirty tone the instruments possess. On the other end of the spectrum for the band, “Ashamed” truly shows the other side of HEALTH, displaying a much more withdrawn, subdued sound than the rest of the material in the release up to that point.
“I can’t change, you can’t change for me” is hauntingly repeated at various points of time during the song, the sudden change in tone for a more somber mood puts on display the act’s multifaceted talents.
HEALTH are a clear example of post-genre bands that have been coming out of the woodworks for the better part of the past decade. Stylistically flitting from one genre and influence to another, intermingling them all seamlessly.
It is no doubt how they were chosen to accompany Sleep Token for their European tour. With a lot of albums that have been released this year, they’ve given insight into what’s next in line for the band or artist, but in HEALTH’s case, anything could be on the horizon for them.
All we know is that Rat Wars is up there with the cutting edge of music and genre boundaries, and that’s all HEALTH will continue to do.
Buy the album here:
https://i.hlth.band/ratwars
9 / 10
CHARLIE HILL