Album Review: Cool World by Chat Pile

Just remember: everyone bleeds From the time you were born it was over The world is bleak. Look around you. Nothing is right; and there's no end to it all. Forget everything you know about hope, Cool World is reality. On their second full-length, Chat Pile goes beyond just "God's Country ….

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This time around they're including surprisingly catchy melodies, bombastic riffs, and galvanic rhythms, with singer Raygun Busch embodying the connection between aggression and despair. The result is a riveting sequence, the Oklahoma-based band lauding the power of creative expression while raging against existential, social, and cosmic brutalities. If God's Country was a focused attack on power systems, seen and unseen, Cool World is a broader take on history, intergenerational conditioning, and our current state.

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Formed in 2019, the band -- named after the rocky toxic waste rejected during lead-zinc mining -- has become highly lauded for their brutal mix of noise, punk and sludge, as well as their confrontational but often humorous and reference-laden live shows. Although the four-piece, all of whom go by pseudonyms (Raygun Busch on vocals; Luther Manhole on guitar; Stin on bass and Cap'n Ron on drums), has a decidedly minimalist setup, on Cool World, the band's experimental tendencies have transmogrified into an ugly, eclectic and anthemic beast. While it's still very abrasive, challenging and hostile, the band has taken various genres and approaches -- goth, alternative, indie, metal, industrial -- and melded these disparate elements into their contemporary brand of noise rock, something equally harsh and, dare it be said, groovy (but not fun groovy…when you listen to it, you'll understand).

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Named for the gravel-like leftover materials from crushing and separating lead and zinc ores found in their home state of Kansas, Chat Pile‘s unsettling images are the stuff of nightmares-nocturnal and waking. Chat Pile blend metal, noise, and hardcore, with the repetitive (in a good way), relentless musical attack of bands like Big Black and early Ministry combined with more contemporary legends like Coalesce and grindcore heroes like Carcass and Napalm Death. Even Nirvana sneaks in through the scream-talk vocals.

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With their second studio album, Cool World, Chat Pile continue to channel despair and dejection through grimy guitar riffs and brutally honest lyrics, recounting the subjugation of the lower classes by the well-fixed. Throughout, the Oklahoma City fourpiece warns of a population that allows itself to be exploited. On opener "I Am Dog Now," singer Raygun Busch reminds us that "everyone bleeds," a sentiment that's echoed later on "Masc," on which he begs, "Don't tell your friends I trust and bleed." Musically and lyrically, Chat Pile aggressively argues for a fairer distribution of power, to tear down the systems that perpetuate cycles of victimization.

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