HEALTH – ‘DISCO 4::PART II’ [Album Review]

In recent months we’ve seen collaborations between the likes of Bring Me The Horizon and Ed Sheeran take the rock world by storm. Then, along comes LA industrial-dance crew Health and their new offering, Disco 4::Part II where the band kicks the collaboration rulebook out of the park with a guest list that, quite frankly, is fucking terrifying.

Wasting no time, the pulsing, electro/industrial “DEAD FLOWERS” kicks off the collection with the LA outfit teaming up with social media/goth-pop superstar Poppy. Hauntingly bleak yet instantly addictive, the pairing is just the start of many highlights of this album. Next up though, Health up their game by joining forces with industrial/electro-rock gods Nine Inch Nails for “ISN’T EVERYONE,” a track that features the unmistakable tones of Trent Reznor. Possessing the dance hooks of early NIN with the bleakness, cold-hearted brutality of Reznor’s latter-day workings, it’s hard to think of a more perfect partnership.

With so many highlights to pick out of this record, it’s hard to know what to recommend next because each collaboration is both beautiful and brutally harsh in its own unique way. Take “IDENTITY,” where not only do the industrial outfit partner with Italian producer Maenad Vevy for a Goth/Industrial Night Club dancefloor filler but sit it perfectly alongside “COLD BLOOD” where they work with Virginia metal heavyweights Lamb Of God for the kind of crossover track perfect for the blood and broken bones of a proper metal moshpit. A project shouldn’t have been able to cross so many musical boundaries and sound so utterly perfect, yet HEALTH manages that on so many levels.

Simply put, there is not one filler track on this album. From the industrial/hip-hop filth of “GNOSTIC HELL/MORTAL HELL” where they join forces with Backxwash and Ho99o9 to the pure ’80s electro/goth-pop of “THE JOY OF SECT” where they work with Street Sect, DISCO 4::PART II is precisely the sort of disturbing music you could want from such an exciting, creatively unhinged and musically diverse group of people.

DISCO4::PART II Track Listing:

1. “DEAD FLOWERS” (feat. Poppy)
2. “ISN’T EVERYONE” (feat. Nine Inch Nails)
3. “MURDER DEATH KILL” (feat. PlayThatBoiZay)
4. “IDENTITY” (feat. Maenad Veyl)
5. “COLD BLOOD” (feat. Lamb of God)
6. “AD 1000” (feat. The Body)
7. “PAGAN-ICONZ” (feat. Backxwash and HO99O9)
8. “THE JOY OF SECT” (feat. Street Sects)
9. “STILL BREATHING” (feat. EKKSTACY)
10. “NO ESCAPE” (feat. The Neighbourhood)
11. “EXCESS” (feat. Perturbator)
12. “THESE DAYS 2.0.2.1.”

Run Time: 50:20
Release Dates: April 8, 2022
Record Label: Loma Vista Recordings