HEALTH are an LA-based industrial-rock trio who comprise of Jake Duzsik (vocals/guitar), John Famiglietti (bass/producer), and BJ Miller (drums). Their new album `Rat Wars` was written during the most emotionally trying period of the band’s life and builds on their chaotic yet re-invigorating pandemic years. It is said that on `RAT WARS`, HEALTH are not only making the heaviest, most genre-obliterating music of their career, they’re documenting just how insane it feels to be alive right now. It’s The Downward Spiral for people with at least two monitors and a vitamin D deficiency. “RAT WARS” is a definitive statement on the insanity and the insipidness of contemporary life.
The album opens with `DEMIGODS` which evolves or grows as an acorn will develop into a tree. A demigod is a being with partial or lesser divine status, such as a minor deity, the offspring of a god and a mortal, or a mortal raised to divine rank and the lyrical content may be interpreted as referencing this. It`s a pretty mesmerising listen and kind of bursts into life in the last sixty seconds or so. The track kind of blends or bleeds into `FUTURE OF HELL` which had a pounding quite industrial vibe with vocals that to me were wonderfully enticing almost hypnotic at times.
`HATEFUL` races along with an EBM pulsating beat with lyrics that appear to question those who waste their lives believing what`s being fed to them. The number seems to morph into `(OF ALL ELSE)` which almost seems like a continuation of the previous track, but mainly instrumental and off sync soundscapes added on route.
`CRACK METAL` is a real yin/ yang mix of a track which powers along but then takes time outs to become more reflective as it`s dystopian journey progresses. There was a kind of disengagement nigh on remoteness to the lyrical content on `UNLOVED` with the music mirroring this pictorial detachment.
`CHILDREN OF SORROW` features Lamb of God’s Willie Adler on guitar and has a kind of delightful not aggression but almost hostility about it with lyrics that predict a pretty grim outlook for our future generation. We enjoy samples of English industrial metal band Godflesh’s `Like Rats` on `SICKO` which I found interesting as the band hail from my home town Birmingham. It`s a bleak but beautiful composition.
`ASHAMED` is an intensive slow burn on which the embarrassment, shame, and humiliation of the present situation the narrator finds themselves in is tangible in the vocal delivery, especially as they have to seek succour from somebody who they`d rather not. The number bleeds into `(OF BEING BORN)` which appears to be a continuation of the previous dilemma and here the chronicler seems to be waiting to exit this mortal coil.
The acronym `DSM-V` intrigued me and a quick search produced the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a handbook widely used by clinicians and psychiatrists in the United States to diagnose psychiatric illnesses. It`s a fast paced industrial groove laden and powerfully rhythmic number with thoughts, views and fears conveyed quietly but succinctly underneath, adding a real strength to the core of what`s shared. The album closes out with `DON`T TRY` a deeply reflective creation with music and lyrics that are pretty haunting but thought provoking.
I`d never had the pleasure of HEALTH before and read that they make music that could soundtrack the end of the world, and also as having “artfully crafted noise and raw synth, with haunting monotone vocals, and drum skills that are borderline insane.” Interesting views and perceptions but for me HEALTH and `RAT WARS` was a totally engrossing, absorbing, and engaging listen. I`m sure that my interpretation of the lyrical content will differ from others but that is the attraction of a release like this, we take what we want from it. This long player had a fragile and tender beauty about it and really drew me in.
The band have over a dozen previous albums, so I know how I’ll be spending my next few days.
Rating 9 /10
