8 / 10
In a society where Radiohead are the new Led Zeppelin, it takes effort to alienate; apparently though Health have it down. Called ‘pretentious noise’ by some, the apes who mock it miss the point. Health aren’t breaking any real avant-garde ground; rather they’re shaping the doom metal of Sunn O))) and the noise of groups like Talibam! into comprehensible pop shapes. While ‘Perfect Skin’ first appears as little more than a pulsing scream, there’s a dense melody within, more like Sonic Youth than ‘Metal Machine Music’. ‘Triceratops’ is no more challenging than most techno and, though there are the surreal, unfamiliar chiming horrors of, say, ‘Heaven’ in here, there is also the satanic portent of ‘Lost Time’ – recognisable to anyone who’s heard Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (trust us, you have) or Godspeed. It’s a challenging, loud vision of rock yes, but it’s not nearly as tough as it at first seems.
Alex Miller
10
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