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JJ's Bizarre Blog #69 - YOU WILL STAY NICE AND HEALTHY
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JJ's Bizarre Blog #69 - YOU WILL STAY NICE AND HEALTHY
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Salutations, all! Christmas is just around the corner and 2025 is drawing to a close, but I reckon I can take on the role of the Jolly Ol' Man and treat you all to one more blog entry before we fully wrap things up! This time, I’ve got a nice little band blog for you, a thorough exploration into a young band that has been taking the world by storm, one of the finest electronic music acts in recent memory and one my greatest musical discoveries of the last few years. It’s gonna be dark, moody and cold, but a red hot party atmosphere too, just like how December usually ends up. I welcome you all to the amazing industrial experience that is HEALTH!
This unique band came into fruition around 2005 in the weird and wacky realm of the Los Angeles underground music scene. HEALTH is comprised of vocalist and guitarist Jake Duzsik, bassist, keyboardist and effects wizard John Famiglietti aka “Johnny Health” and drummer B.J. Miller. For the first half of their career, they also enlisted Jupiter Keyes as a second guitar and synth player. Their style has evolved quite a bit, starting out very noisy and experimental before transitioning into a catchier industrial electronic sound with elements of rock, metal, noise, EDM and more. Their songs tend to be dark and brooding, yet infectious and danceable, with many layers of instrumentation creating an intense and enveloping sound. Jake’s voice is very smooth, gentle, even and aetherial, standing in stark contrast to the chaotic instrumentals around him. I always picture him as a tranquil man calmly meditating in the eye of a violent storm. Their lyrics are metaphorical and introspective, providing a great vibe and atmosphere. Despite this, the band also enjoy their humour and love joking around and have fully embraced internet culture as a means to grow their following, being true meme lords all over social media. So let’s meet these lovely weirdos then, shall we?
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HEALTH truly entered the scene with their debut self-titled album in 2007. This one is emblematic of their noise rock era, being very harsh, avant-garde and experimental. Hard hitting distorted instruments are layered with electronic elements. Everything sounds very raw and emotionally charged and given that, from what I can gather, this whole thing was recorded as more or less a live jam session, this makes a lot of sense. Most tracks are instrumental but when Duzsik’s vocals do come in, they’re littered with effects and sound haunting and down right unnerving. This whole album is a very unique ride that certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but for those willing to take the plunge, there’s almost nothing like it!
The same can be said of their sophomore album GET COLOR in 2009 (NO LOWERCASE ALLOWED AROUND HERE). We’re still firmly in noise rock territory, but this time the eclectic ideas are much more reigned in so to speak, as if the band managed to figure out how to control and cultivate their own creative chaos! It shifts between energetic attacks and much softer and even a bit melodic tracks. So if the first record was a bit much for you, but you’re still fascinated by this kind of sound, perhaps this one will be more your speed.
After some extended time touring, experimenting with different things and working on some other projects we’ll talk about later, HEALTH finally came back in force with their third album – 2015’s DEATH MAGIC! This is an entirely different beast compared to what came before, now swerving into a more industrial and electronic sound, whilst retaining the rock elements. The song structures also became a lot more approachable, leading to intensely catchy and memorable tracks. The sound is still noisy and experimental at times, but everything flows in a graceful and controlled manner. The vocals also start to take on a much more prominent role. When you ask around the fanbase, many agree that DEATH MAGIC is the best place to start when exploring their discography, as it’s the nexus point of all artistic endeavors the band have pursued! Listen to this one and decide – if you like the wild noise rock stuff, listen to the albums before this one, if you like the catchier industrial/EDM stuff, listen to the albums after this one! Whatever you do, you won’t regret it! Magical indeed!
A few more years pass and thus we arrive at the band’s next opus in 2019 – the incredible VOL. 4: SLAVES OF FEAR! Now deep into industrial territory, the band further expand their already vast and diverse soundscape, incorporating synthpop, EDM, darkwave, electronic rock, metal and much more into it all! The tracks here are easily the catchiest they’ve ever made, being heavy and atmospheric, yet also incredibly dance-worthy at the same time. This and the previous album truly feel like a reincarnated modern version of Nine Inch Nails. It’s the exact type of dark and brooding type of party anthems you’d love to hear in a cyberpunk nightclub and the vibes are just immaculate! It’s action-packed, it’s introspective, it’s upbeat, it’s ambient, it’s amazing! This album is just absolute peak and it naturally helped propel HEALTH to even greater stardom. I just constantly find myself coming back to this one and I hope you will too!
To spice things up, the band switched gears after that incredible banger and decided to do something completely different – a collaborative effort called DISCO4 (DISCOs 1, 2 and 3 are remix albums, more about them later). Part I came out in 2020 and featured very unique and interesting collabs with many other underground artists that have managed to make big names for themselves in recent years such as Perturbator, 100 gecs, jpegmafia and more. It really allows both HEALTH and their partners in crime to showcase different facets of their sound and a broader approach to their songwriting!
DISCO4 :: Part II would drop two years later, presenting an equally as varied and unique cocktail of sounds. However this time, after so much diligent work and wild success, the boys managed to bring in some really big names to work with such as Lamb of God, Poppy and even Nine Inch Nails, a band they often get compared to (including earlier in this blog) and a band that helped catapult their career many years ago. A full circle moment showing how far these LA lads had come!
Thus, we arrive at the peak of peaks. In 2023, HEALTH dropped a monumental album that would change the course of everything – RAT WARS! This is where I and many others first discovered them and while I can only speak for myself, I was instantly hooked! All of their elements up till now really came together here. Some tracks are these gloriously pumping industrial metal masterpieces with some absolutely awesome riffs, including one with pioneering legends Godflesh! Some are truly club-worthy synthwave/darksynth bangers with immaculate vibes, including one with the amazing SIERRA VEINS, who I've mentioned before. There’s even a few electro-acoustic power ballads in there for good measure with some glorious introspective lyrics. The entire record flows beautifully from song to song and never gets dull. Yet, each song also stands on its own as a unique experience! The cyberpunk nightclub sound was in full effect again as well! This power trio was really firing on all cylinders and delivered not just the best album of their career, but one of the finest records of the 2020s so far. If you didn’t know, now you know. You’re welcome!
And if delivering such an incredible banger wasn’t enough, they legit pulled the SpongeBob meme of “Want to see us drop one of the best albums you’ve heard in your life? Want to see us do it again?” And they did just that when they dropped the sequel to RAT WARS just this month – CONFLICT DLC. I mean, by the standards of today, this DLC is a whole new game, but whatever you say dudes. This new album was evidently painted with the same brush and the same colour palette as the one before it and it paints a similar picture, but it still feels different and fresh! Many tracks are very much industrial metal and are very guitar driven, but still have that dancefloor worthy electronic sensibility to them. Other times, they go full darksynth, delivering some melodies that put even the giants of that genre to shame. The lyrics remain potent and powerful, macabre yet enthralling. It’s the catchiness of pop music wrapped in meaty heaviness and deep darkness. And the whole thing still retains the flawless cyberpunk vibes. I don’t know how, but these madlads did it again and delivered yet another immaculate masterpiece and show that what they did on RAT WARS was no one off fluke. They’re here to stay and are ready to deliver more of the good stuff, again and again!
Going beyond their main discography, like many artists I tend to fall in love with, HEALTH have been deeply involved with video games. Their first yet also biggest foray was back in 2012, when they were specifically chosen as an out-of-the-box choice to score Rockstar’s incredible Max Payne 3! Mind you, HEALTH were still in noise rock land at this point and this kind of project, being so different to what they were used to, is the earliest moment that forced them to diversify and broaden their sound with catchier and more electronic elements. So a case can be made that this soundtrack is responsible for helping the band form the iconic sound we know and love them for today!
Beyond that, they also created part of the soundtrack for GTA Online, giving us all the perfect score to live out our crime filled, action packed, street hustlin’ dreams. They also helped make one of the iconic songs for the brutally brilliant one man indie masterpiece ULTRAKILL, a bloody banger that fits them so so well. And of course, they’ve had a few of their songs featured in the monumental Cyberpunk 2077 and the subsequent anime, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, because of course they did! Given HEALTH’s absolutely spot on cyberpunk vibes, it would’ve been absolute sacrilege NOT to include them. The murky, dirty, neon-drenched streets of Night City and the dim, grimy, noisome halls of The Afterlife Bar are exactly where these tracks belong. One Jackie Wells please, on the rocks!
In the gaps between their amazing LPs, a beloved pastime for the band is remix albums, most notably the DISCO series. DISCO1 came in 2008 right after their debut album, DISCO2 in 2010 right between the second and the Max Payne OST and DISCO3 in 2017 after they transitioned into their industrial era. Each one is a fascinating experience, showing a whole new facet of their sound, presenting their songs in entirely new light and allowing many other artists to riff on their crazy ideas. You really never know what to expect in these. There’s more of them on the way, so can’t wait for that!
Outside the DISCOs, HEALTH have collaborated with several different artists, big and small, on all manner of projects. They also often remix/cover the tracks of other artists and allow others to remix more of their own songs too, a time honoured tradition in the world of electronic music. The results are very varied and fun and add some extra spice and variety. You can also make the case that popular indie duo Crystal Castles remixing one of the band’s earliest songs “Crimewave” all the way back in 2009 was one of the earliest pivotal moments that helped catapult HEALTH into greater popularity.
For the time being, this is where we stand with HEALTH! I truly hope you enjoyed exploring the discography of these incredible rising stars. In my humble opinion, these three are on of the finest bands of the last few decades and we’re also blessed enough to be here now, just as they are entering their prime and releasing hit after hit. The way they mix electronic rock, industrial rock, industrial metal, synthwave, darksynth, EDM and even pop music together is truly unparalleled, becoming undisputed flag bearers of industrial, electronic and alternative music in the modern age. And no matter what a song sounds like and no matter how dark and moody it gets, it’s always pure pleasure! Whether you wanna dance, you wanna headbang or you just wanna indulge in the vibes, they got you covered! This is what I’ve always imagined top quality modern music needs to be - polished and well produced, yet raw, emotional and born out of free-spirited, unrestricted creativity, taking full advantage of state-of-the-art technology whilst maintaining oldschool proper musicianship and songwriting. I’m happy that, for what turns out to be the band’s 20th anniversary, I was able to make this blog to commemorate them and spread the good word! So do yourself a favour and PRAISE HEALTH! Explore forth, discover them, discover yourself and don’t forget, listening to awesome music is good for your HEALTH! Oh, and one more important thing:
YOU WILL LOVE EACH OTHER
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And that’s a wrap on JJ’s Bizarre Blogs for 2025! Wow, what a year! Truly, it has been the grandest adventure yet and looking back on the entire experience, it’s almost hard to fathom that all of these amazing things happened within but a single year. The blogs themselves were some of the most ambitious I’ve ever undertaken and I couldn’t be more proud of how they turned out. It was a lot of work, but every second of it was worthwhile! I’m also deeply grateful to everyone that helped me and made these incredible projects possible. Rest assured though, there’s no stopping anytime soon. Tune in next year, because there’s a hell of a lot more where that came from! So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all, enjoy the winter times, stay safe, take care of yourselves, take care of each other and catch you all on the flipside in 2026!