Review: HEALTH at Magnet House

HEALTH at Magnet House
w/ Zheani, Joshua Wells & Karina Utomo
Wednesday, July 31, 2024

It’s not often that a support act upstages the headliner for pure spectacle. But that’s exactly what self-proclaimed “trap fairy” Zheani did last Wednesday, with a show part shock-rock, part burlesque, and total subversion.

That’s nothing against HEALTH. In a memorable mixed bill of three wildly different acts, all had goth and noise elements but displayed them in uniquely brutal ways. First up was a collaboration between Joshua Wells & Karina Utomo. Under a fresh electronic guise, Canberra-via Melbourne metal mutha Utomo (Young & Restless, High Tension) hissed and growled her way gutturally through 30-minutes of atmospheric beats and live percussion.

With looped vocal chants and spoken word making way for full shrieking, Utomo’s presence was darkly majestic as she appeared to cast spells and hypnotise the early arrivals, her stylised moves a highlight. Give ‘em a gig at Dark Mofo.

Hell, give all the night’s acts a gig at Dark Mofo. With a genre blend of screamo and pop, Zheani’s sound alternately recalls Crystal Castles, 100 gecs, Ethel Cain, and Deafheaven, a perfect fit for Tasmania’s winter-fest. But it’s her divisive image that makes an impression first.

Dressed in just a skimpy g-string and white tee (it later came off to reveal adhesive nipple covers as she covered herself in blood and berated us), the burlesque elements were unexpectedly risqué, bordering on pornographic.

But make no mistake, Zheani is as serious as a heart attack, and she’s got the forehead tattoos to prove it. She didn’t shy away from an apparently troubled upbringing in Wallaville, announcing, “I grew up in the Queensland bush, and this is a song about my fucking life!"—all emo aggrandisement and bitter tears ahead of Dirt Bike.

Other sweet cuts such as Bring Wet Cunt, Napalm and Fuck the Hollywood Cult were delivered like short, sharp fragments; accompanied by only a DJ, the abrasive sonics merged punk, metal and autotune into a moshable mesh of two-minute blasts. Part broken baby doll, part witch-house alien, and probably funded by Only Fans, Zheani feels like a dystopian future that might just be worth paying for.

Magnet House doesn’t host as many tours as it did in the Capitol days, but it’s looking better than ever. The makeover may be minimal, but the lighting and production are state-of-the art. And fortunately, HEALTH brought an incredible lighting engineer along.

Without the visuals of Zheani’s set, they relied on this superb lighting design, carefully tailored to each song, and it’s hard to remember how HEALTH ever managed in daylight at Laneway fest last tour.

The audience was certainly loud during the support acts, and one suspects they brought their own share of punters down early (particularly Zheani). But it was clear who the health-y sold-out crowd was there to see. Early on, it was the industrial drums of Crack Metal that got the mosh started, while the anthemic Stonefist came soon after and lit up the room.

Latest album Rat Wars is as heavy as we’ve heard HEALTH, and the full-throttle thrash of tracks like The Message and Future Hell nicely made way for near-perfect metal ballad Demigods, in one of the night’s highlights (all it needed was an epic shred finale).

A pulsating electronic cover of Deftones’ Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) was assisted by sparkling rainbow lights, while We Are Water and Feel Nothing (accompanied by their own bespoke ‘Feel Nothing’ HEALTH condoms at the merch desk) were the most melodic standouts of the night (but where was Die Slow?)

As heavy as their industrial sound is and continues to become, oddly, HEALTH’s songs still don’t stretch out live, like traditional metal. Rather, they tend towards the pop and hip-hop template of mash-ups and shortened songs. Somehow, after 70 minutes and no encore, it didn’t quite feel like the epic 20-plus songs they played on paper.

It’s a small gripe after a killer show, but it leads to my other, likely unpopular, opinion: in a mini-fest onslaught of dark and depraved sounds, Zheani’s brand of Satanic Prostitute won the night.

HARVEY RAE

Photos by Adrian Thomson