“Into the new world.”
Chat Pile is undoubtedly one of the most brutal and heavy, yet also impressive and melodic, bands to make themselves known to the world, in recent memory. It was only two years ago upon the release of God’s Country that the band garnered a larger following, despite a good handful of scattered releases until that point. That album was noisy, sludgy, and dark, but the crisp production style and intriguing guitar tones keep them grounded. My first experience was with the track “Why” which clearly and blatantly asks “why do people have to live outside?” The band is, and always will be political at least in part, and aggressively expresses those views, and that was another reason why I found the band such an engaging listen. God’s Country condemns American nihilism by embodying it and rearing its ugly face. Cool World, on the other hand, has a macro view on things, as it touches on the world as a whole and it’s cold status and cold nature. This allows for a throughline in tone, but a different scale and different topics. Combined with the growth in sound, specifically being a bit more melodic and technical, Chat Pile has put out another gripping, awesome record.
Opener “I Am Dog Now” is bouncy and chaotic off the rip, but interspersed with heavy strummed chords, which is an apt summary of a lot of their song writing style. The vocals by Raygun Busch are, as usual, pained, intense and cinematic. Combined with a hardcore flair, you can’t ask for much more out of a heavy track. It, just like every other track, will keep you guessing and nearly blow your mind at every turn with how the band mixes crushing heaviness with dreamy leads.
If the rest of Cool World followed suit of “I Am Dog Now”, this would still be a fantastic album. However, “Shame” quickly adjusts the expectations of the listener. Raygun’s vocals are nearly sung as they have, once again, a pained tone to them, but this time of the drunken, defeated manner. There middle of the track has a near-metalcore type breakdown with some death metal vocals, just as another example of how this album will not sit in one type of heaviness. Another example of this range is within perhaps my personal favorite, and a single for the album, “Masc”. The song opening with a nasty bass behind technical drumming and mathy plucking sounds so good. Then Raygun’s vocals get another layer of dread, “I give up” manifest, all while packed with emotion as well. This delivery style is very unique, and it’s so well done. Plus, it’s the perfect way to sound when talking about this Cool World. However, this song does seem like it could be more personal, perhaps touching on the character’s need to open and re-open wounds and discuss things, though that sentiment could certainly be attributed to the world overall. “Masc” also ends with a breakdown with a stellar tone to it – a strong musical moment.
Some of the darkest material is on “Tape” where there’s this phase “If I could, I would kill them all” at the core of the track. It is repeated over varying instrumental arrangements, from a dissonant, yet lighter, sweeping sound to their more natural heavy and haunting. This juxtaposition formed is perhaps the strongest on the record, and it really makes the song pop because of it. Then comes “The New World” which, paired with “Tape” certainly makes the darkest 1-2 punch of Cool World. Raygun uses repetition a lot lyrically, and this time there are two phrases repeated the more: “into the new world” and “most are dragged kicking and screaming out” which I think are likely in conversation with each other. The ending of the track has a uniquely noisy tone as it plays out, ending on a strong note.
“Milk of Human Kindness” is a bit of a low point for me on the album. The dark atmospheric sound is very much still present here, but it leans too atmospheric, almost, dare I say, dull, when the main riff is extended for so long at varying points on the track. And the heavier sections feel tacked on instead of earned. Furthermore, the topline by Raygun is quite clearly the least interesting of the collection of tracks.
Closing the album, “No Way Out” does its best to reignite the album. It starts with a bass driven beat that never entirely goes away, as a lot of Chat Pile’s sound has an accentuated bass, but the song dances between insanely chaotic, blissful chords, and heavy sections in an even fresher way than the rest of the album shows. “No Way Out” is aptly named, as I could see one getting stir crazy listening to how manic the instrumental can get, while also luring the listener into a sleepy chord progression before jarring them awake. One could say the closing track ends a bit abruptly, and I wouldn’t push back too hard on that, but that anxious feeling of expecting more is more then fitting for an album that plays on that feeling through its run time.
If you’re asking me, I’d say Chat Pile already solidified themselves as one of the best bands putting out heavy music right now with 2022’s God’s Country. The fact they were able to come back so quickly with another, perhaps better release, is insanely impressive. The atmosphere, heaviness, and tones of suffering and pain are amplified and perfected within their sound. This album might make you uncomfortable, bang your head, or morbidly introspective, or all of the above all at once, and that’s why you need to listen to it.
9/10
You can pre-order Cool World here before it releases this Friday, October 11th via Flenser Records.