Chat Pile's new album Cool World marks an evolution from their groundbreaking 2022 debut, God’s Country, expanding the band's focus from the local to a more global scale. Blending elements of hardcore, noise rock, sludge, and post punk, the album is drenched in existential dread, and offers a distinct kind of intensity, making it a strong continuation of Chat Pile's already notable path.
Thematically, Cool World tackles global disasters, war, and societal decay, channeling the brutal realities of the modern world.
Opener, I Am Dog Now, is an expression of the band's stark depiction of human suffering, while tracks like Shame and Funny Man attempt to point out the dreads of war by way of the visceral imagery and potent social commentary of Chat Pile's sharp lyricism. The band’s moves intelligently between melodic parts and aggressive heaviness in solid tracks like Frownland and Masc, while the grand culmination in the form of closer No Way Out illustrates the overarching sense of despondency which permeates the entire record.
“While we wanted our follow-up to God’s Country to still capture the immediate, uncompromising essence of Chat Pile, we also knew that with Cool World, we’d want to stretch the definition of our “sound” to reflect our tastes beyond just noise rock territory,” comments bassist Stin. “Now that we had some form of creative comfort zones in place after hitting that milestone of putting out a full-length record, album #2 felt like the perfect opportunity to challenge those limits.”
Although the band's new album seemingly hasn't created the same explosive impact as their debut, Cool World finds Chat Pile still pushing boundaries, and emerges as a thought-provoking and artistically profound record which challenges expectations.
ZR