HEALTH
RAT WARS
Loma Vista Recordings
Back in May of this year, one of my absolute favorite bands released a new single, “HATEFUL (Feat. Sierra)” and I had the pleasure of reviewing that track. In my review I speculated and hoped that this single was an indicator that a new album was in the works. Huzzah! HEALTH released RAT WARS on December 7, 2023, just in time to gift to your favorite sad industrial music miscreant fan! I had posited if a new album might be heavier, darker, and even more industrial based off that single. I was correct!
HEALTH’s release cycle for RAT WARS is following a new trend that I find odd. Of the album’s 12 tracks, a full six have been released over the past few months as singles. Peter Gabriel’s new album i/o (just released on December 1) had a similar strategy, but Mr. Gabriel released every track in a “light” and “dark” version before the actual release! Is this the new strategy for the way streaming is, how most people consume and discover new music? Perhaps. Only time will tell, but it did get me to pre-order the vinyl and t-shirt bundle. I want to financially support the artists that I like. Tangible items seem to be the best method and I have sick shit delivered to my home direct from the artist’s label.
RAT WARS is the first full-length album of original and non-collaborative tracks since 2019’s VOL 4 :: SLAVES OF FEAR, and it is dark. And it is heavy. There are collaborations: the aforementioned “HATEFUL (Feat. Sierra),” and second single “SICKO (Feat. Godflesh),” but the remaining ten tracks are all HEALTH (a laundry list of credits are given, so I guess it’s not just HEALTH). I don’t like quoting from press releases, but this one is cherry: “It’s The Downward Spiral for people with at least two monitors and a vitamin D deficiency.” To paraphrase lead singer, lyricist, and guitarist Jake Duzsik and bassist John Famiglieti from an excellent, in-depth, and recent interview with Revolver Magazine, they basically admit that HEALTH have always been an industrial band. Even when they where categorized as noise or experimental or diverged into more club-friendly arrangements, at their heart they always chased after the motoric beat and aggression of industrial music. My “spidey senses” did not fail me!
I like this album, quite a bit! It’s not as saccharine beautiful as some of my historically favorite tracks, (“LIFE” from 2015’s DEATH MAGIC ) but the aggression carries RAT WARS into new and interesting territory. Massive riffage and locked in, synthesized rhythms are still held together by Duzsik’s fragile, floating vocals. It’s an interesting dynamic, as typically musical phrasings like this are matched with screamed and/or distorted deliveries as is hallmark for the industrial genre. Duzsik’s vocal delivery is a prime reason I fell over the fandom-cliff for HEALTH, so I appreciate that even though the music has often become “riff-ier,” his vocals can (and do!) float me across the river Styx. There is some dark(er?) territory being mined on RAT WARS. I’m interpreting fifth single, “UNLOVED” as exploring child abuse and neglect after the child has grown. How that impacts adult relationships. What that psyche looks like and how that adult-child navigates their world. So far, it’s the track I come back to most, employing more synths than guitars without sacrificing the brooding. I want that brooding!
HEALTH explore so many of my favorite musical genres that I have a difficult time being impartial: Goth influenced synth-wave, industrial, post-punk, noise. This is an amazing problem to have! I am looking forward to when my package from Loma Vista Records arrives at my door and I get to piss off my neighbors with the excessive volume at which I play RAT WARS over my turntable. Releasing this album in December is a brilliant marketing strategy, as its isolation and indifference is a balm for all little weirdos (like me!). If I could make any request of HEALTH, I’d love a future collaboration with Ogre of Skinny Puppy fame. Gentlemen, you have collaborated with Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, you can make this happen!
You can catch HEALTH on tour this spring with support from Pixel Grip and King Yosef.
