Watching Chat Pile conquering the underground music world after having covered them even before their debut full-length is filling me with immense pride. Even in their early days, with the This Dungeon Earth and Remove Your Skin Please EPs, the band already found a lane to exist in, one where they could thread the line between noise rock and sludge metal but also inhibit a strong post-punk leaning. It was the latter especially that was the first thing that stood out to me about Chat Pile, but it became even more obvious as the band leveled up to the full length level that their biggest strength is how oppressive atmosphere can go along with some of the most unhinged lyricism and vocal performance. There's a reason why after seeing them at Roadburn, everyone was quoting parts of their performance.
God's Country wasn't the first time that Chat Pile used their lyricism to point at the world and say "That's fucked up", but with a more fleshy tracklist (compared to four-track EPs) it was easier for that part of their sound to come to the forefront. It was an anger and a consternation that was simultaneously filled with disbelief and despair, and something that activates your lizard brain and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand back and turns on your fight or flight reflex. On a fundamental level, that's a strength that Cool World leans on. On one hand, Cool World being a continuation of God's Country might not feel as exciting the second time around, especially since there isn't much in terms of new elements being introduced. On the other hand, Chat Pile make songs so visceral that they could get away with never changing their formula as long as they keep being visceral.
Having spent some time with Cool World, but still feeling like there's more to be spent in the future (especially as they're poised to return at next year's Roadburn), I haven't found any of its songs to reach the same immediate impact and lasting power that something like "Why" had, but there are lines on this record that, repeated enough times, get pretty close to holding my spine hostage, like "I Am Dog Now"'s title being repeated almost like a mantra, "Outside there's no mercy" in "Funny Man", or "Most are dragged kicking and screaming out", or "I trust and bleed" in "Masc". Chat Pile do a fantastic job of maintaining their intensity even is moments that feel more mellow and lowkey, ones where the post-punk can turn almost deathrock-ish blended with some of the mellower tracks of In Utero, showing how much intensity can be had in being sinister, gloomy and full of anguish.
Cool World is a bleaker album, having almost none of the tongue-in-cheekness that occasionally appeared in earlier releases. These are very soul crushing times and they should make you angry.
