| Rat Wars | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Health |
| Cover: | Health - Rat Wars.png |
| Alt: | A grainy image of striped lines crossed over each other, with the album title at the top and the track listing beside it. |
| Length: | 41:32 |
| Label: | Loma Vista |
| Producer: | Stint |
| Prev Year: | 2022 |
Rat Wars is the fifth studio album by American noise rock band Health, released on December 7, 2023, through Loma Vista Recordings. It was produced by Stint and received positive reviews from critics.
The album was conceived after the band put together the second Disco4 album remotely. Vocalist and guitarist Jake Duzsik initially considered naming it Outer Dark, after the novel by Cormac McCarthy, but eventually settled on Rat Wars, the title of a track from their previous album ; the band compared the situation to The Doors' Waiting for the Sun.[1]
Rat Wars includes the work of a number of guest artists, including synthwave artist Sierra, electronic producer Swarm, Willie Adler of metal band Lamb of God, and members of Youth Code and Street Sects.[2] It was produced by Stint, though for "Children of Sorrow", band member John Famigletti intentionally used the demo mix as he felt it had "more vibe". "Future of Hell" was derived from a track by electronic artist Nexy that Famigletti heard whilst driving; he asked to work with him on the album, but was declined, leading to the track being sampled instead.[3]
Rat Wars incorporates elements of metal, electronic and industrial genres. It continues in the direction established by Health's previous album , being thematically darker and sonically harsher than the band's previous work.[4]
Duzsik described it as more personal than Health's previous work, being thematically "much more of an ‘I’ record than a ‘we’ record” and influenced by his "disharmonious state". He called the imagery of children in the lyrics "Jungian", being influenced by his own experiences raising his son.[5]
The first single, "Hateful", was released as part of an April 2023 update to the video game Ultrakill, with the developer stating "Yes, we're premiering... new music inside of Ultrakill now, deal with it".[6] The album was announced alongside two more singles, "Children of Sorrow" and "Sicko", with a release date of December 7.[7] Before the release, the band released three more singles: "Ashamed" on 23 October, "Unloved" on 16 November, and "Demigods" on 23 November.[8] [9] [10]
The cover artwork was designed to mirror that of the band's debut album, as a way of stating they had metaphorically "started again".[1] After its release, the band published a Vampire Survivors-like game on itch.io, Rat Wars Survivors, to promote the album.[11]
Rat Wars received a score of 73 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on six critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception. Olly Thomas of Kerrang! felt that the band "conjure their most effective rendering yet of their distinct aesthetic, a slick night drive through rainy neon-lit streets in search of answers to existential crises". Sputnikmusic's Simon K. called it "a record that's more cinematic, darker, louder, heavier and harder than anything we've heard from them before today", likening the experience of listening to the album on headphones to being "in a confined space with the band lobbing grenades into it". Reviewing the album for The Line of Best Fit, Jack Bray described it as "an album for every conceivable type of Health enjoyer" and found that its "amalgamation of sound" results in "Health arriv[ing] with their most scathing and sombre record yet".
DIYs James Smurthwaite felt that the album "can wash past with as much staying power as candyfloss in a puddle" but its highlights "are reminders of Health at their vibrant and varied best, something that Rat Wars fails to consistently capture". Uncut wrote that while "the music is decent enough", "the problem is Jake Duszik's vocals, which are soft and blank of affect in a way that is oddly characterless. It leaves Rat Wars feeling, if not completely without merit, a bit of an empty vessel".
Sample credits
Health
Additional musicians
Technical