HEALTH’s ‘CONFLICT DLC’ Confronts Digital Despair with Cathartic Noise
Vacation Vista is set to release HEALTH’s sixth studio album, CONFLICT DLC, in 2025, a record that dissects the anxieties of modern life with a potent blend of industrial soundscapes and unflinching lyrical honesty. The album builds upon the foundation laid by 2023’s RAT WARS, offering a sonic evolution that embraces both aggression and a surprising degree of emotional release.
HEALTH has never been long-winded in their lyrics or anything less than immediate in their sound. This approach is immediately evident in “VIBE COP,” a preview single where vocalist Jacob Duszik delivers lines like “Replace me/I don’t belong/You cared for me/And then forgot,” over a backdrop of “blaring industrial pulses and thrash riffs.” The song then shifts perspective, seemingly voicing the abandoner with the stark command: “Follow your dreams/Just keep ‘em to yourself.”
The band’s marketing, characterized by a playful irreverence – particularly on platforms like Instagram and TikTok – stands in stark contrast to the serious intent of their work. This duality, however, positions them uniquely within the “terminally online era,” as one observer noted. CONFLICT DLC doesn’t simply acknowledge our digitally-saturated existence; it puts it “on trial,” while simultaneously recognizing the overwhelming forces that have led us here.
The album’s thematic core is powerfully illustrated in “THOUGHT LEADER,” where Duszik sings “Lay in the dark/Stare at the screen” – a seductive invitation to succumb to escapism – before identifying the driving forces behind our collective malaise: “Holy money/Forgot about love.” The directness of the lyrics is intentional, drawing a parallel to the unapologetic energy of bands like Hole, and reflecting a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. Press materials confirm that the album directly addresses “screen addiction” as a central theme.
CONFLICT DLC is presented as a companion piece to RAT WARS, functioning as “the C and D sides of a double album.” Both records share a similar sonic DNA, particularly in their embrace of thrash and death metal, and create a cohesive listening experience when played sequentially. However, CONFLICT DLC ventures into bolder territory, incorporating elements of hardstyle techno, metalcore, and even dream pop. This exploration results in a greater emphasis on catharsis, moving away from the “grinding-chainsaw rage” that defined RAT WARS.
This shift towards emotional release is not without its drawbacks. The album’s lyrics, while potent, occasionally lean towards self-loathing and can feel repetitive. Yet, the dynamic arrangements of tracks like “TRASH DECADE” and “YOU DIED” transform these expressions of despair into “completed purges of horrid emotions,” leaving the listener feeling empowered rather than defeated. As one commentator observed, RAT WARS featured songs that “drew blood and left those wounds open,” exemplified by “CHILDREN OF SORROW,” a track that continues to resonate with its raw emotional intensity.
Duszik himself described DLC as “more aggressive and more desperate…but also more fun” than its predecessor, a sentiment that encapsulates the album’s complex emotional landscape. The band’s often-ironic use of the phrase “DON’T KILL YOURSELF” in their marketing materials, while meme-driven, functions as a surprisingly empathetic gesture. The title track, featuring the lyric “I don’t want to kill myself but I don’t want to live this way,” is not presented as a joke or an oversimplification, but rather as a raw and honest expression of profound despair.
Musically, CONFLICT DLC represents a significant step forward for HEALTH. The rhythm section, comprised of John Fermiglietti and Benjamin Miller, is described as being “more locked in than ever before,” particularly on tracks like “VIBE COP” and “SHRED ENVY.” Co-producer Stint’s contributions – layering keyboard textures, multitracking, reverb, and programmed beats – create a sense of “precision-measured chaos.” Ultimately, the songs hinge on the impact of Duszik’s vocals, which range from near-whispers to roaring pronouncements, often imbued with a surprising tenderness, particularly on the album’s opening and closing tracks, “ORDINARY LOSS” and “WASTED YEARS.”
HEALTH isn’t striving for mainstream appeal, and, according to reports, seems content to remain outside of it. (The band’s unconventional merchandise, including an anal plug, suggests a deliberate rejection of conventional expectations.) Instead, they appear uniquely attuned to the realities of contemporary life – a world characterized by digital overload and existential anxiety. As one source put it, the sound of CONFLICT DLC embodies “the desperate scrolling motions of a finger atop a mobile screen, the infinite scream in so many minds that such behavior intends to drown out, and the click of the off switch on our distractions as we prepare to face whatever new horrors the mid-2020s bring us.”
