Chat Pile are back with a triumphant 4^th LP that includes their tightest batch of songs to date. Who Loves The Sun shows them at their heaviest and catchiest yet.

CREATURE

Opening up the record is Creature. The song is a less immediate intro than may be expected from the band, given their wild choices for opening tracks on previous albums. Creature isn’t explosive straight out the gate, instead it welcomes the listener in through its warped and unsettling soundscape. Following the chorus, the powerful and angular guitars start to slash through the thumping drum groove. Slowly but surely they are increasing the intensity. We get a wonderful example of the varied vocal presence of frontman Raygun Busch toward the songs end. He goes from restrained, vulnerable singing to tortured yelping and screaming. Creature doesn’t give you all the album’s answers right away. Alternatively, it implores you to delve deeper to find out for yourself.

What follows next is lead single Deep Blue. This song again showcases a sweet mix of Busch’s clean and rough vocals. As well as this, we get more brooding guitar riffs and explosive drum rhythms, all while harnessing some of the bands catchiest material yet. The song is a great example of the ability that Chat Pile have to be able to play with dynamics.

Same Rules sees more of this exploration of their sound, with an opening drum machine groove backing the song. Even with its less in your face energy, the song still manages to unsettle through its effective atmosphere of what feels like hypnotising anxiety. It’s an absolute earworm that embeds itself deeper into your subconscious as the track continues. When the song eventually really kicks off, we are revealed to its emotion and power that feels euphoric and transcendent.

PEN IS MALL

We then reach possibly the bands heaviest moment to date, the absolute colossus that is PEN IS MALL. The song is a tale of the destructive nature of capitalism from Busch’s experience working as a maintenance man at a shopping mall. The track details him and a colleague, explaining their differences and how their situation led them to feel almost against each other at times. However, the song is tied together perfectly with the lyric “Greg and Ray live under the same boot” revealing the true villain to be neither of them, but the system they have to live and work under.

Purely from an instrumental standpoint, the song is a total blast too. The ride cymbal groove in the chorus feels like it is physically breaking its way through the speakers. And the song’s breakdown in its second half is truly jaw dropping. PEN IS MALL is an absolute career highlight for the band.

The quality really does not stop there with the two-song punch of Shrine and Intruder. Shrine feels like one of the band’s most epic and grand moments to date. Busch’s presence sounds totally massive in the chorus, whilst being backed by guitarist Luther Manhole’s cathartic guitar lead. On the other hand, Intruder harnesses possibly the band’s most singable and catchy chorus to date. This possibly is due to the harmonies courtesy of vocalists Claire Hannah and Brittany Sawtelles which under lay Busch’s singing perfectly. The song also has some incredibly snappy guitar work. All of these elements help create a song that feels truly special, and unlike anything else in the Chat Pile discography thus far.

FAMILY FUNERAL

As the album approaches its end we reach the one-of-a-kind Family Funeral. In its opening minute we are treated to some quirky yet explosive guitar squeals before reaching the first verse. The instrumentation throughout this song is more off kilter than anything previously brought to the table. In the chorus, the totally bleak and overwhelming soundscape sounds like thunder and rain could be littered underneath the wave of blistering guitars and Busch’s manic and desperate vocal performance. The track is visceral throughout. A swarm of screams and scraping guitar strings collide before the song snaps the listener out of their warped trance.

Album closer October All the Time opens with a soft acoustic guitar. It’s totally different sonically than anything else yet heard on the album. The band have dragged the listener out of the darkness the rest of the album contained them in. The song is an interesting blend of the more vulnerable and human side of the band. This is until it is swapped out for a groove more reminiscent of the rest of the album with crushing guitars and booming drums. This is however, until they are dragged away again, leaving the listener back with Busch and the acoustic guitar to see the album out in its final moments.

Who Loves The Sun is another stellar addition to the bands catalogue. It sees them pushing their sound into unexpected territories, whilst still managing to harness the essence of what makes Chat Pile so special.

Watch the video for Deep Blue from the album below.

Chat Pile: Website

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