DEATH MAGIC
Health’s third studio album—their first since 2009’s *Get Color*—is a sharp turn from the wild, tribal psychedelia of their early days into futuristic, industrial-tinged pop. (Chalk it up to the influence of Nine Inch Nails, who took the band on tour in 2008.) Produced by the always-intense Haxan Cloak, *Death Magic* is a pretty, pummeling album that’s as reminiscent of Ministry’s buzzsaw aggression as the high-gloss club-pop of Rihanna.
It's been over half a decade since HEALTH released a studio album, and Death Magic is a bold, albeit occasionally jarring, step forward. The band finally embraces the pop impulses that seem to have always been lurking in their DNA.
Hatched a decade ago from within the underground incubator of famed Los Angeles DIY venue The Smell, Health first made its reputation as a relentless noise-rock band. It was less interested in decimating a stage with blown-out, thick riffs and red-faced rage than it was in gnawing scenery to shreds with razor-edged,…
LA noise-mongers return with an astounding pop record that brings melody to their brand of noise.
As their furious earlier albums and all-caps name suggest, HEALTH don't do anything in half-measures.
If brooding, primal opener Victim is anything to go by, you'd be forgiven for thinking HEALTH are going back to their confrontational roots
Rhythm was always at the heart of Los Angeles noiseniks HEALTH's music. Their previous two LPs — not to mention their companion remix...
"And we both know/Love's not in our hearts" sings the trademark detached androgynous voice on "Stonefist" one last time, you gritting your teeth in anticipation of the instrumental refrain, a heavy and pounding electronic assault of synthesized distortion
L.A. noise-rock band HEALTH return with album Death Magic on August 7th. Northern Transmissions reviews their first album in almost 7 years, Death Magic.
HEALTH - Death Magic review: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...