RAT WARS was described as “The Downward Spiral for people with at least two monitors,” while CONFLICT DLC leans harder into that apocalypse-with-a-wink aesthetic. What did you want to expand or correct from RAT WARS in this follow-up, both sonically and thematically?

Just like DLC in a video game, this is expanding the RAT WARS sound with new sonic gimmicks, motifs and most importantly faster tempos catered to these bigger stages and big heavy festivals we have been playing.

Your lyrics have always wrestled with existential dread and digital decay, but you’ve said CONFLICT DLC mirrors the doomscroll of 2025. How do you write about despair that’s so current without it tipping into cynicism, or do you think cynicism is the point?

Jake writes all the lyrics but I will say they are very earnest and pretty direct.

John mentioned the idea of “adding new weapon types” with this record. What were the new tools or production approaches, literal or conceptual, that reshaped the HEALTH sound this time?

Faster tempos, modern metal influences, peak time + hardstyle techno influences, new production and mixing sensibilities around the guitars and heavier elements…list goes on.

You’ve cited Ministry, Rammstein, and Black Sabbath as touchpoints. When you channel those heavy industrial roots through HEALTH’s maximalist, cinematic lens, what defines the balance between homage and reinvention?

Fine question.  I think the real decider is if it’s good or not.  When Scorsese lifts a sequence from old film it’s an homage…if a lesser filmmaker does it…it’s a rip off.  So it’s really up to you.

You’ve worked with everyone from Nine Inch Nails to Poppy to Lamb of God’s Willie Adler. What do you look for in a collaborator, and how do these partnerships shape the mythology of the HEALTH universe?

If we like them and can imagine how it’s gonna work with us, then we are game.  We’ve always courted remixes and alternate versions so we feel the collaborations fit right in to the sonic universe.

After touring RAT WARS alongside Slipknot and Sleep Token, you mentioned feeling the need for “more firepower.” How did those festival experiences rewrite your sense of what HEALTH can be live?

Yes, a big influence has been playing Metal festivals like GRASPOP METAL MEETING, KNOTFEST, BRUTAL ASSAULT the list goes on.  When the band before and after you is non stop insanity full dog.