HEALTH
Death Magic
It has been a long time--so long already--since HEALTH released a proper album that most people forgot the California noise-rock band even existed. They shouldn't have though, because if nothing else, Death Magic will remind you with a blast so loud your eardrums will defect. But don't worry, this isn't some ambient wall of static; with their third actual album, HEALTH have created the perfect blend of noise and pop.
Like Nine Inch Nails, and even more so My Bloody Valentine, before them, the structure-less landscape of the noise genre was spread out before HEALTH for them to conquer, like Lawrence of Arabia crossing the Sun's Anvil. Asked the eternal question "how does one take a niche, near-unlistenable genre and create fans," the answer (in all three cases) is "add pop."
Before Nine Inch Nails, industrial was a formless mass of dark-sounding samples and unintelligible, offensive lyrics. Trent Reznor created a following simply by asking "what would happen if there was a 4/4 drum machine here instead of, well, nothing?" Similarly, shoegaze was built out of loud, overly-progressive rock that no one could understand, that is until Kevin Shields asked "what if we played love songs like this?" So now HEATLH is asking, "what if Rhianna wanted to permanently damage everyone's hearing?" And the answer is ridiculously awe-inspiring.
Death Magic is a monolithic pillar of the loudest, coolest, craziest beats ever recorded covered by the most inventive soundscapes and fascinating lyrical structure released since the last Tool album (seriously, still waiting on that one). At the same time, HEALTH made good on their promise of Depeche Mode and...Katy Perry inspiration and made all that bombast as easily digestible as anything in the Hot 100 right now.
But even though HEALTH may have found their bubble-gum side, that doesn't keep the tone from still being disturbingly creepy; with song titles like "Flesh World," "Hurt Yourself," and "Drugs Exist," which have lyrics to match, that sense of dread that accompanied their breakouts "Crimewave" and "Die Slow" is still very much present.
With Death Magic, HEALTH look to expand beyond their small-market, big-noise origins, and begin what will almost surely be the sonic apocalypse: the fateful day when we all give in to our basest of musical impulses, create ceaseless noise, express perpetual nihilism, and cause deafness.
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