Hi everyone, Bahthony Mahtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Chat Pile album, Who Loves the Sun.

Yes, this is the newest and third full-length album from Oklahoma's own Chat Pile. It has been six years since these guys formed, and they almost immediately started making waves with their early EP releases, which helped them land on The Flenser, where they have been flourishing, growing to the point where I think right now they are the biggest active band on the label.

And really, considering the aesthetics and vibes of many of the groups and artists over there, I mean, it's kind of the perfect home for Chat Pile's fusion of noise rock and sludge metal, two styles they would find a pretty perfect balance between on their debut, God's Country, where they showcased some pretty awesome influences along the lines of Melvins, Jesus Lizard, Godflesh, and Shellac.

But maybe the biggest difference maker for Chat Pile, and them resonating so far and wide with a lot of loud rock weirdos and even indie heads, is their harrowing lyricism. The way they poetically and bluntly dive into man-made horrors on tracks like "Slaughterhouse" and "Why," or even the anxiety-inducing freakout that is a "grimace_smoking_weed. jpeg."

All of which frontman Raygun Busch is just the perfect conduit for just because of the intensity with which he delivers his rage, his dejection, his all-out madness. Nearly every performance is a roundhouse kick of feeling. Not to mention that a lot of Chat Pile's work serves to kind of hold up a mirror to the world's depravity from a distinctly middle-American point of view.

I'm digressing, though, because from here the band would eventually go on to drop their sophomore LP Cool World, which was not a drop in quality per se, but didn't feel like a level-up either. If anything, this album kind of saw Chat Pile streamlining things with more compact song lengths, more straightforward song structures, and an emphasis on riffs, with some of their social commentary coming across a bit subtler. Even tossing some slight nu-metal influences into the mix, with Chat Pile really starting to make their love of bands like Korn widely known during this era in their career.

The sudden success the band saw off of these two albums also caused them to really start striking while the iron was hot with relentless touring. And even another album in 2025, last year, a collab record, in fact, with a guitarist and picker extraordinaire, Hayden Pedigo, which resulted in an album that may have left some fans scratching their heads- at least listeners who expect music from Chat Pile that is consistently heavy and unnerving. But personally, while there were a few teasers to this record that underwhelmed me when I first heard them, as an entire tracklist and an entire vision, I think this collab record works pretty well. I even wondered if some of the more dismal acoustic passages on this record would somehow go on to influence all of Chat Pile's music from here.

Which brings us to the latest installment in the Chat Pile saga, Who Loves the Sun, which had some interesting teasers for sure. I mean, I didn't expect this album to present any kind of radical change for Chat Pile sonically, but damn if "PEN I S MALL" doesn't contain the most savage and extreme vocal performance of any Chat Pile track ever. The screams on this thing are freakish, like they're coming out of a mental institution, complete with a heavy breakdown and what sounds like a live bong hit, too. Not to mention all the lyrics are about living under the boot of capitalism, no breaks, no drinks, no dignity, just complete degradation and coercion.

Meanwhile, "Deep Blue", which is also a single, is packed with all these chunky, snarling, downtuned bass riffs and dismal, eerie guitar work that, when put together, creates a track that is the most Korn-esque Chat Pile has ever sounded. And honestly, it works. Especially with that kind of weird, industrial, metallic, chirping, looping bit hanging in the background. Which isn't even the only time that pops up on this record. It's a real psycho soundtrack type beat.

I also really appreciate Raygun taking a more measured approach with the talk-singing on this track as well, with a lot of mentions of screens, masks, and time running out as well. I kind of see this track as about fakeness and leeches, sort of sucking up what little time we have left on this world.

Because the idea of end times is a pretty consistent theme on this record. Really from its opening moments, where on the first track we are hit immediately with these twisted, gnarly riffs, and hideous layered chorus vocals that sound like a trio of goblins, screaming, dropping refrains, "every creature led to slaughter, every city underwater," reinforced with images of falling ash and dust.

I get very similar vibes as well on the track "Same Rules", which I wasn't crazy about when I first heard it, due to it having a very mild and moody start that feels almost like a low-key alt-metal number. But that no-world-on-the-outside refrain has really grown on me. Plus, it's hard not to read that second verse as a really thoughtful portrayal of a last hurrah. The climactic finish goes over really well, too, and all around it's a good breather in the track list.

We get even more versatility on the track "Intruder" as well, which is maybe one of the catchiest songs on this record, with a layered sung chorus. The springy rhythm guitars on the chorus also provide a kind of bouncy groove to the hook, and it's maybe the most goth rock the band has ever sounded. And one more time, Chat Pile just nails it by bringing the bridge of this track to a really intense peak, where everything that's horrifying, harrowing, and tense about the song up until that point just reaches such an immense boiling point.

Plus, I also really like the lyrical framing of this track, or at least how I read it, because it does very much portray a haunting, but what that haunting is feels kind of like the nagging idea of the world turning to shit, and that, or the messaging of that, or the messenger of that being an "intruder" of some sort that's kind of interrupting this pleasant family life.

Deeper into the track list, the sound of this record gets heavier, even more aggressive at points, with "Christabel '26" just being such an insane piece of sludge. Meanwhile, the riffs on "Influence" get even crazier faster; it's like a pessimist rager.

I will also say that is the case for the track "Family Funeral," which is almost like a Chat Pile classic in terms of a lot of the appeal of this one kind of coming down to Raygun not just reciting the lyrics, but acting out the lyrics, in the character, the perspective that they are being said from.

And the track "Family Funeral" isn't just merely about someone passing away in the family. It is about a breakup of the family unit in the most extreme, disturbing, unsettling way. The more I hear it, the more it is kind of quickly becoming one of the most disturbing and most difficult to listen to Chat Pile songs. So I mean, in that regard, it's kind of hard to come on here and celebrate it, per se. But I mean, it is a really impressive piece of writing and performance and just, what incredible musical accompaniment as well.

Again, when it comes to loud rock music, few bands are channeling emotion and the most disturbing elements of the human psyche in the midst of modern living. Our ugly, exploitative, isolated existence. Again, just a few acts are out there capturing exactly that with the accuracy and the intensity that Chat Pile is, and this record is further proof of that.

My only major issue with this album is that I do think there are a few cuts here and there that run a little same-y. Now that I'm able to hear the entire album, namely "Shrine," I feel like they're vocally and on the guitar work front as well that they are painting themselves into a corner a little bit.

But still, with that being said, they mostly nail the landing with an acoustic closer, which also reaches a very aggressive and loud finish. Not my favorite progression or song structure of the record, but it is an interesting parting message for this album, as it does feel like a little bit of encouragement, in the midst of all of this misery and all of this woe. This assurance that everything will be fine, whether it is temporary or forever, what we are in the midst of is this "October All the Time" continuum. Where things are constantly changing or in this state of death.

Kind of cold comfort, but that's the only type of comfort I have come to expect from a record such as this one. I'm feeling a light 9 on this album, Who Loves the Sun.

Anthony Fantano. Chat Pile. Forever.