HEALTH don't sound much like a punk band these days. Really, they didn't sound much like a punk band when we first met them, nearly a decade ago. The early HEALTH were recognizably a product of L.A.'s freewheeling warehouse scene, but even in a comparatively open-minded punk-rock context, they stood out. Their sound was spacey and psychedelic and percussive, and it had more to do with the Boredoms than it did with Black Flag. They had the scrappy lo-fi intensity that's driven a few generations of California punk bands, but they seemed to be reaching their arms skyward in a way that nobody else was doing. They had a feral, urgent quality, but they still seemed based around groove above all else. When I saw them open for New York's Mercury Lounge in 2008, they constantly switched instruments and frontman duties, everyone taking turns stabbing at cheap synths or banging drums on the floor. I compared the result to "the drum solo from 'Wipeout' falling slowly down a massive flight of granite stairs," and seven years later, I'm not sure what the fuck I was talking about. But these days, HEALTH don't sound like a punk band or a spacey, psychedelic, percussive, Boredoms-inspired DIY art project. Instead, they sound like an incredibly angry group of studio-pop professionals who want to hurt you. It's a good look for them.