ALBUM REVIEW: DISCO4 :: PART II – Health
Over the past few years there has been an influx of artists whose all encompassing and no holds barred approach to making music has ensured that genre boundaries and beyond are being smashed relentlessly beyond all recognition. The chaos that the world has faced over the past two years plus has only added to this free for all as artists adapted to different ways to make music given that traditional ways were becoming erased. Artists like HO99O9, BACKXWASH, THE BODY, CLIPPING., FULL OF HELL, BOB VYLAN and so many more have taken this chaos and torn up the rule book in order to create music that is as free from what has gone before as it is forward thinking and vibrantly expressive.
Another band who definitely fits into the same free flowing collective are LA industrial trio HEALTH, who, despite being around since 2005, have recently seen the profile and range of their music exploding out of the stratosphere. Just as their industrial idols NINE INCH NAILS and their peers MINISTRY and SKINNY PUPPY ushered in a new era with their utilisation of electronic music, HEALTH have done the same with a whole host of different soundscapes, only this time they are doing it in collaboration with a whole host of similarly forward thinking musical allies.
2020’s DISCO4 :: PART I saw HEALTH collaborate with the varied likes of GHOSTEMANE, YOUTH CODE, XIU XIU, JPEGMAFIA and PERTURBATOR with devastating results and now the group follow it up with another set of collaborations and the results are just as devastating. The set of collaborators on this second volume of DISCO4 are indeed bold again, with everyone from HO99O9, NINE INCH NAILS and BACKXWASH to LAMB OF GOD, STREET SECTS and THE BODY joining forces with HEALTH to create a collection of audio weapons that are sure to destroy speakers the world over.
From the get go, HEALTH don’t waste any time as they start with the shimmering DEAD FLOWERS with POPPY, and from then on, the record is a headfuck (in the best possible way) of varying sounds. NINE INCH NAILS join forces with the band on ISN’T EVERYONE, a song that sees Trent Reznor unleashing lyrics that mention a “little piggy” at one point in manner that evokes The Downward Spiral while he trades vocals with Jake Duzsik to mesmerising effect and it sounds sublime.
Assaults on the senses like MURDER DEATH KILL with ADA ROOK and PLAYTHATBOIZAY, and PAGAN ICONZ with BACKXWASH and HO99O9 are unstoppable juggernauts of energetic noise and vivacity, while even heavier cuts like COLD BLOOD with LAMB OF GOD and AD 1000 with THE BODY sit right at home with tracks like the EKKSTACY collaboration STILL BREATHING and NO ESCAPE with THE NEIGHBOURHOOD – the results all just make perfect sense.
As DISCO4 :: PART II ends with a HEALTH original entitled THESE DAYS, you realise you have just listened to a lesson in how open music is these days. It’s clear that HEALTH are doing their best for people to get access to so many great artists of similar visions. It’s 2022 and all bets are off but with HEALTH and their band of collaborators in control with this series of deadly tracks, the future of forward thinking music is definitely in good hands.
Rating: 8/10
DISCO4 :: PART II is set for release on April 8th via Loma Vista Recordings.
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