CONFLICT DLC shows HEALTH perfecting the sound they’ve been refining for years and accepting the weight of what that sound now means. Jake Duzsik’s plaintive vocals drift in first before being obliterated by an enormous triplet stomp that’s become one of the band’s defining weapons. Industrial, violent, and immaculately produced, HEALTH have always trafficked in ugliness and beauty at the same time, but here its sharpened with absolutely massive production engineered to smack you with every beat.

This is dirty music made with surgical care, with a relentless early run of tracks that barely gives you a second to breathe. BURN THE CANDLES blasts forward at a psytrance pace in a cyberpunk rush, and VIBE COP keeps the momentum going, shifting into a half-time stomp for the chorus but never easing the pressure. It’s an overwhelming intense opening, and as the album progresses the pace widens with depth. TRASH DECADE introduces more space without losing any weight, with Jake’s melodies given room as the emotional centre of the record, humanising what would otherwise be pure industrial intensity. Unmistakably HEALTH themes of mental illness, betrayal and despair run through the album, with the lyrics of YOU DIED hitting harder because they aren’t buried under excess noise. HEALTH now understand the role this music plays for their audience, knowing this sound has become a lifeline for people who are struggling, and CONFLICT DLC leans into that responsibility, insisting on staying present with the darkness instead of looking away and telling you everything will be fine. Rather than pushing the extremity further for its own sake, HEALTH are perfecting their language with a sound that merges technology, alienation, and mental health crises into something bleak and honest that reminds you you’re not alone.