HEALTH, Birthdays, London

It’s a strange experience, sitting in the upstairs bar above the Birthdays basement, a couple of hours ahead of HEALTH’s late-night show. Crowds from below begin to filter out, having witnessed an earlier performance, not ‘matinee’ per se, but certainly one lacking the late-night thrill of the originally scheduled show. It’s a bit like huddling in a cinema queue and seeing the previous screening’s viewers pour out, minus the popcorn. You check to see if they’re smiling, or if they look at least vaguely impressed.

It’s instinct to search for clues in the previous audience’s reaction because, despite the knowledge that a HEALTH show is always going to provide the bare essentials - sweat, piercing noise, a desire for earplugs - they have some new material to showcase. Given it’s been four years since 2009’s ‘Get Color’, there’s more than a hint of intrigue, maybe even anxiety about what’s coming next. The band themselves admit to having a ‘less atonal’ record up their sleeves, though they avoid using the words melodic or direct.

When the second scheduled set comes round, it becomes immediately clear that the sheer, mutating ferocity that’s so associated with HEALTH hasn’t let up in the slightest. The set opens and closes with a screech, ending abruptly with a crowdsurf and the assuring declaration from frontman Jake Duzsik that ‘this show was better than the last one.’

Any anxiety creeping up in the collective conscience of HEALTH’s loyal fanbase seems to rub off on the band, pre-show. It could be a tradition, but given John Famiglietti is handing out free whiskey shots with every t-shirt purchase, there’s a clear desire within the band to induce unrelenting carnage.

The new songs don’t reach the severity of ‘We Are Water’ or even the more streamlined ‘Die Slow’. Something about them cries out for a bigger venue, smoke-filled festival tents. It’s fitting to see Crystal Castles’ Alice Glass dancing two rows back from the front. She’s been at the forefront of an abrasive, cutting sound forcing itself on larger audiences. Even on these brief glimpses, HEALTH seem fully prepared to do exactly the same. The tracks showcased amongst ‘Get Color’ highlights and their ‘Goth Star’ Pictureplane cover have the potential to sound huge. Rubbed up against the more screeching, established cuts, they don’t have the desired impact every single time. But for the most part, bass shakes the walls, speakers come close to breaking point, and those are just about the only aspects of tonight’s show that the crowd so crucially requires.

Call it melodic, call it streamlined, call it pop if you have the guts. The truth is this band are still a terrifying prospect, and it’s due time they aimed for a higher calling, out of intention or otherwise. Festivals are often anarchic, occasionally horrifying experiences. Sooner or later they’re going to be soundtracked by something aptly apocalyptic.