HEALTH - Conflict DLC

You can't say Health lack originality. The Los Angeles band has carved out a niche in the extreme rock landscape with an inimitable blend of hammering rhythms and heavy guitars combined with sugary melodies that at first leave you stunned and then become addictive. The territory is that industrial sound close to the visions of Nine Inch Nails, roughed up by the violent sound of Ministry. With a hefty dose of melodic sensibility added courtesy of singer Jake Duzsik's angelic voice. It's a formula that over the years has allowed Health to carve out a precious space among fans of heavy music, leading them to play festivals like Primavera Sound and Coachella. In short, a heavy hammer with a romantic edge, serving up a demanding yet mesmerizing listen: hearing them is an experience hard to compare to anything else out there.

There is, however, a paradox in the Californians' music: it's original yet always the same. Already in the comparison between 2015's "Death Magic", a dark and unsettling album with industrial sounds that are sometimes muffled and sometimes extreme, and the following "Vol. 4: Slaves Of Fear", more accessible in its pursuit of a sound close to alt-hip-hop stylings but always ready for a metal blast shot through with sweet melodies, you could spot the tendency to repeat a winning formula. Variety, for these guys, is found in the collaborations across the various albums from "Disco 1" to "Disco 4", through which they moved from remixing their own tracks to partnering with artists from the electronic underground: "Disco 3" and "Disco 4" featured intriguing contributions from the likes of Xiu Xiu and Soft Moon. On these co-produced albums, Health engage in a lateral approach to the industrial discourse, with worthwhile detours into ambient and darkwave.

We're talking about top-tier alternative music that nonetheless tends to repeat itself, as happens on the new "Conflict DLC", another set of perverse, dark songs starting from a premise, as the band themselves stated: "The future sucks and the phone you're reading this on makes it worse, but please don't put it down. We're happy to announce twelve new tracks of anger, fear, sadness and death, and to ask for a little more of your attention". In case it still wasn't clear what we're dealing with, here's the incendiary material at hand.

Produced by Stint and mixed by Drew Fulk, the album presents itself as a follow-up to the previous "Rat Wars", drawing some of its songs from those same recording sessions, though the production accentuates the harshness of the sound compared to its predecessor.

It's a sonic attack that gives the listener no escape right from the opening "Ordinary Loss", built on heavy, obsessive drumming and a powerful bassline, topped off by a wall of syncopated guitars. The track describes the ordinariness of ending things with a touch that's both demonic and empathetic: "In the dirt, in the dust, it's an ordinary loss, the ones you love are here and then a moment later they're gone". The following "Burn The Candles" is an electronic speed-metal charge softened by Duzsik's voice, always careful to create that unsettling "killer doll" effect. "Trash Decade" (a fitting title to define the Trump-era decade) is melodic and slow — without the layer of electronic drums and hallucinated synths, it could pass for a boy-band song. "Antidote" changes gears, a slow, atmospheric darkwave track in which the vocals build a welcoming, very pop chorus.

The closing "Wasted Years" opens with dark keyboard flourishes and sharp blades of synthetic beats, then moves into a chord progression reminiscent of old-school Marilyn Manson, before picking up pace and flying off.

The paradox of being "always the same" is there, and it shows. Despite this (or perhaps precisely because of it) the album is worth more than one listen, and Health still have unlimited credit in the bank.

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25/01/2026