Chat Pile - "Cool World"
And the award for the most ironic album title goes to...
Okay, buckle up, y’all. Chat Pile is an act that I expect very few are ready for.
Hailing from Oklahoma, the band takes its name from mining waste called chat, which is full of heavy metals and thus incredibly toxic. Despite its toxicity, it’s often piled up in the open as mining operations progress.
The name aptly represents the band’s sound, which others have described as Sludge Metal and Noise Rock; and attitude, which strikes me as very Punk and strongly anticapitalist (I mean, the chat piles are a symptom of the ills of capitalism).
If that wasn’t enough of a hint, allow me to be blunt: there is absolutely zero separation between the band’s music and their politics. Their politics, and, more importantly, their rage at the status quo and today’s society are the driving force of everything they do. I was introduced to the band through Music League, and one of our participants submitted “Why” from the band’s 2022 debut album, God’s Country. It asks one very simple, very angry question:
“Why do people have to live outside?”
The album’s title, God’s Country, underscores the message in an almost violent fashion.
So when I saw a Chat Pile album due to release ahead of the election, I needed it. And, unlike Coldplay’s unfettered optimism, Chat Pile’s tone only becomes more relevant here in November as we watch Trump’s cabinet picks trickle in.
The album opens with “I Am Dog Now”, which, at first glance, seems nonsensical. “Dog”, of course, is “God” backwards. The speaker recognizes being the inverse of God, completely helpless. The line “No cage, nowhere to go at all” really does a lot of heavy lifting for the song’s meaning, bringing into play the illusory freedom of modern capitalistic societies — we’re free to do whatever we like…so long as we can afford it and don’t stop producing and don’t act against those at the top. And the only way out, as the final lines state, is to “Watch the red roses bloom on their shirts as they die”, referring to our collective oppressors being…forcibly removed.1
This opening track is immediately followed by “Shame”, which can only be talking about Palestine — specifically how many Palestinian children have been killed in the conflict.
In an interview with Crack, who describe Chat Pile as “Oklahoma’s dirtbag metal band”, vocalist Raygun Busch says:
“It’s just a big anti-war statement, the whole album – every song is about how much I hate war. Man’s greatest shame.”
And it really is the whole album. Every song brings some new point of contention to rage at. These lines in “Funny Man”, for example:
I gave them my flesh to write the final chapter
But the blood of my sons is just a new beginning
The album also discusses the media ignoring stories about the evils occurring in Gaza as videos come out on social media (“Tape”); toxic masculinity and the difficulty of coming out as gay to toxic friends (“Masc”); the horrors of war and PTSD (“Milk of Human Kindness”); and the lie of class mobility under capitalism (“No Way Out”).
Busch’s vocals are suitably angry as he delivers these lines, often slipping into harsh screams. The rest of the band accompanies him with crushingly heavy riffs and percussion.
There is no (or very little, anyhow) melodicism here. It’s all rage and vibes, and that makes it cathartic, in a way. It’s an album that really represents the sociopolitical reality in 2024 for those who are awake.
I highly recommend this album for anybody who enjoys heavy music, be it Metal or Punk. Also, anybody who is severely frustrated with the state of the world might be able to use this as an outlet for their heavier emotions.
Rating: Blue
For the sake of full disclosure, this was not my initial read on the song; this comes from Genius user b0bbins, whose take was more thought-out than mine, and fit better. I had to yield, but I’m impressed that the song is capable of supporting multiple readings (though maybe that’s because the lyrics are so sparse).