“The world is awful – refusing to have a boogie won’t make anything better, though”: Sleep Token-backed industrial champions Health dance in the face of despair on new album Conflict DLC

When Health opened for Deftones at London’s Crystal Palace Park this summer, it was a supreme exercise in juxtaposition. Here was a trio who made a name for themselves by playing punk rock squats and abandoned L.A. warehouses, now on the bill of a sold-out show at a 25,000-capacity venue. The EBM-meets-industrial-metal of their last album, 2023’s Rat Wars, was self-described as “The Downward Spiral for people with at least two monitors and a Vitamin D deficiency”, and here they were making people dance outdoors on one of the sunniest days of the year.

Fact is, Health know they’re a band of contrasts. Singer/guitarist Jake Duszik says that he wants Conflict DLC, their sixth album, to be “fun, cathartic and aggressive”, as well as “emotional and psychological”. It’s a continuation of the ‘party at the end of the world’ vibe they’ve dealt in for years: an approach clearly resonating with a generation who have to live with live-streamed genocides and the inevitable apocalypse that is the climate crisis. Major Crimes, the band’s contribution to the soundtrack of blockbuster videogame Cyberpunk 2077, boasts more than 32 million Spotify streams. Plus, as well as Deftones, they’ve supported Slipknot and Sleep Token in the last two years alone.

Ordinary Loss introduces the conflict at the heart of Conflict DLC. ‘Everyone that you love, they’re here and then they’re gone,’ Duzsik moodily croons. Then, a burst of guitar and ear-splitting percussion explodes out of the speakers. During the first full verse, John Famiglietti’s bass throbs alongside an industrial rhythm, making the song sound like a body-popping rave in a Blade Runner dystopia.

The likes of Burn The Candles, Vibe Cop and Shred Envy double down on the high-octane cynicism. These heavier tracks were mixed by Drew Fulk, after Health were wowed by his work on Knocked Loose’s You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To last year. If Conflict DLC has a behind-the-scenes MVP, then it’s him. Each beat and chord hits like an all-consuming detonation, without subtracting from the smoothly-voiced bleakness of Duzsik’s lyrics. ‘Hope is just a word,’ he enunciates amid the chaos of Trash Decade.

The album has its softer moments as well, synthwave interlude Torture II evoking defeat without the need for vocals. Thought Leader is about loneliness in the internet age, but it turns that negativity into a delectable pop-rock anthem. ‘Everyone is dumb,’ the chorus repeats, in a manner no doubt destined to kick off some therapeutic, arena-wide singalongs. Similarly, Don’t Kill Yourself is a slow number with music that seems designed to get crowds waving, even as Duzsik unloads, ‘I don’t want to kill myself but I don’t want to live this way.’

Health are still contradictory to the core: downtrodden and hopeless, yet channelling those feelings into songs you can either sing or move to. It’s crowd-pleasing stuff that doesn’t talk down to the audience. This lot know as well as everybody else that the world is fucked – refusing to have a boogie won’t make anything better, though.

Conflict DLC is out now via Loma Vista. This review is taken from the new issue of Metal Hammer, which you can order now and get delivered directly to your door.