HEALTH - Death Magic

HEALTH have always found themselves resisting a relatable vocal, denying the listener meaning and certainty, or sometimes just plain old security. ‘Death Magic’ sees the band relax that philosophy in favour of an artfully inclusive exhibition of pure songcraft.

With a history of pulling absolute chaos from disorder, this reversal sees the Californians actually instilling structure and purpose and they prove surprisingly adept at it.

Standout track ‘Life’ is the greatest focal point of a new era of clarity, as the toned down synthesisers submit themselves to the dominant vocals. “I don’t know what I want, know that I don’t, know what I want - No, nobody knows, nobody does, nobody knows” with the ethereal musings of “Life is strange, but it’s all that we’ve got”. ‘Stonefist’ and ‘Dark Enough’ represent deceptively simple, but exciting excursions while HEALTH can still boast the labyrinthine terrors found in ‘Salvia’ and ‘Men Today’. They prove they can write a genuinely satisfying half-conventional song just as competently as they can tear them apart from the inside out.