Back catalogue:

Review: With their 2022 debut LP God's Country, the herald of the true face and voice for modern middle-American malaise came in the form of noise-rock/sludge metal purveyors Chat Pile. Broadcasting from their muted home of Oklahoma City, their deformed sonic mutations pulled equally from The Jesus Lizard, Acid Bath and Korn, while vocalist Raygun Busch (that is his credited moniker) appalled and harrowed with his spoken-word nightmare poetics touching on everything from homelessness and the opioid crisis, to real-life recounts of botched robberies and first-person narratives from horror film characters such as the mother of Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th. Expanding their scope both conceptually and compositionally, Cool World takes aim at the entire planet with classism, the horrors of war and genocide, the very real potential for abuse stemming from toxic masculinity, capitalist lies and the nihility of existence all as topics of discussion, while still making time for backwoods journeys into serial killer's isolated farm homes. Musically continuing to pummel with industrial abrasion and hypnotic groove, sonically the band have begun to embrace their sludge-core tendencies while channelling nuanced elements of alternative metal and goth rock, offering new painstaking modes of vulnerability to drive home their despair-laden character studies. Mark our words, there isn't one single other metal/punk/alternative album in 2024 that slaps this hard while instilling such a cold feeling of visceral dread and fear for our ever-despondent cool world.

Review: 2022 saw the unlikely glow up of the one of the most sonically unhinged and conceptually hideous newcomers of recent times - Chat Pile. Hailing from the muted middle-America of Oklahoma City, their debut LP God's Country found itself on many an out-of-place end of year list, with its harrowing concoction of sludge metal, noise-rock and spoken word diatribes based around everything from the opioid and housing crises to first-person recounts of revenge from Jason Voorhees's mother of Friday the 13th fame. In short, it was a caustic, horror-indebted debut about how utterly fucked the US is, and now with their platform and exposure majorly expanded, Chat Pile return to take the entire globe to task for its follies on the deformed, multi-headed behemoth bastard of a sophomore effort that is Cool World. Furthering their signature sludgecore down the mire of audible hubris, yet incorporating elements of swaggering grunge and sultry goth-rock, here the unassuming, deplorable four-piece make their indelible mark on the extreme music underground and make it abundantly clear that God's Country was only the beginning of their Babylonian death chants.

Review: Following on from the unprecedented success of their 2022 debut full-length God's Country, Oklahoma City sludge-metal meets noise-rock four-piece Chat Pile now expand their scope (which initially took their home to task for its homeless and opioid crises), to take aim at the world at large for all of its follies from oil-drilling, to the shoulder shrugs of war, deforestation and genocide. Imbuing their sludegcore heft with gothic grunge melodies while also increasing their heaving tonal bedlam to nauseating degrees, Cool World genuinely sounds like the soundtrack to our own self-designed end times, and what better clarion call to see us over the horizon than Chat Pile's signature industrial-tinged bombast led by frontman Raygun Busch's harrowing, howling spoken word sermons.

Review: With 2022's God's Country, Oklahoma City sludge metal/noise rock manglers Chat Pile took the underground music scene by the throat and dragged it through the twisted drug addled, decrepit, destitute annals of modern middle America. Returning two years on from their major glow up that saw them land on numerous end of year list that usually wouldn't touch their brand of hubris sonics with a ten foot pole, their sophomore endeavour Cool World trades the initial narrow view of the woes of their home country for the rotting globe at large, taking religion, politicians and narcissistic everyday people to task for their ignorance, malice and docile attitudes which are leading to a culmination of no more cool world for any of us. Expanding their sonic scope to draw on more melodious grunge and sultry goth-rock, while tapping outside production help this time around to make their heaving industrial-tinged noise-sludge bombast even more stomach churning, LP2 makes bad on all of Chat Pile's initial, unsettling promise, with a nauseating feeling that they'll be narrating our end times for as long as there are ears to listen.

Review: Primarily known for his sprawling LA-based psych/garage/punk/all of the above work as Osees aka Thee Oh Sees aka Oh Sees, John Dwyer links up with experienced percussionist Dave Barbarossa (Fine Young Cannibals, Adam & The Ants) for the retro bratty glam-punk experience of the year - Chime Oblivion. Their self-titled debut is packed full of squelchy synths, jagged minimalist guitar lines and high-pitched eccentric vocals, paying clear homage to classic acts such as The Slits and Bow Wow Wow. Chock full of bite-sized bangers including 'Neighbourhood Dog' and 'Kiss Her Or Be Her', both of which scoff at the notion of a three-minute track, this is retrofitted throwback dance-punk in the stylised era before it even had such a moniker.

Review: After recording sessions for their legendary fifth LP Combat Rock would come to a close at the end of 1981, punk heroes The Clash embarked on a six-week jaunt across Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand (where they shot the iconic cover for their forthcoming record) and Hong Kong. Hitting the city of Kowloon on 25th February only a few months out from record release, this was an era when Hong Kong was still a colony of the British Empire (the last existing dependency of any significance at this time) and enjoyed less government interference in personal freedom, yet there had never been an act as bold as The Clash over to visit. With a setlist that reads today more like a greatest hits including the signature opener 'London Calling' along with bangers galore from 'The Guns Of Brixton' to 'I Fought The Law', '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais' and 'Jimmy Jazz', with the band even treating the crowd to an early earful of Combat Rock lead single 'Know Your Rights' more than two months before official release (a time when no one had smart phones to film and throw up on YouTube or include on Setlist.fm as "New Song"), this performance and tour would also be one of the final to feature drummer Topper Headon, who would be fired due to his heroin addiction just a few months down the line, marking the end of the original line-up.

Review: Finishing up recording sessions for what would become their classic fifth full-length LP Combat Rock in December of 1981, The Clash began 1982 with a six-week jaunt across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand (where they would shoot the iconic cover for their forthcoming album) and Japan, marking their first time hitting most of these countries. Taking the stage at the Nakano Sunplaza in Tokyo on the 1st February, Joe Strummer and co would rip through a setlist that reads today more like a greatest hits collection including the signature opener 'London Calling' along with an array of quintessential bangers such as '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais', 'This Is Radio Clash', 'Tommy Gun' and 'Jimmy Jazz', while the band would be joined by bassist Paul Simonon's wife Pearl Harbor (aka Pearl E. Gates) of new wave outfit Pearl Harbor & The Explosions for a rendition of the Wanda Jackson popularised 'Fujiyama Mama'. This tour and subsequent performance is also noteworthy for being one of the last to feature drummer Topper Headon, who would be removed from the band shortly after due to his heroin addiction, ultimately bringing an end to the original line-up.

Review: Following the end of recording sessions for what would become their iconic fifth full-length Combat Rock in December 1981, punk legends The Clash would embark on a six-week tour of Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand (where they would shoot the cover for the upcoming album) and Hong Kong. Captured in Kowloon on the 25th February three months before record release, and during a time where the city enjoyed less stringent government oversight, there had still never been an act as rambunctious and declarative as The Clash to hold court. Delivering a set that now reads like a greatest hits from the obligatory opener of 'London Calling' to bangers such as 'Tommy Gun', 'The Guns Of Brixton', 'I Fought The Law' and 'Jimmy Jazz', while even unveiling Combat Rock lead single 'Know Your Rights' two months before studio release, the performance and subsequent tour is also noteworthy for being one of the last with the original line-up, as drummer Topper Headon would be fired due to his heroin addiction only a couple of months later.

Review: Hailing from Huntington Beach, California, The Crowd arrived in the early 80s as part of the "trash punk" movement, somewhat segregated from the burgeoning hardcore realm that was slowly becoming the most followed path forward for the punk scene. Sporting dayglo beachwear and influencing their own type of proto moshing (or "slam dancing"), their momentum sadly didn't equate to instantaneous success for their 1981 debut full-length 'A World Apart', which can best be described as chaotic surf-punk akin to a scrappier Agent Orange. Dissolving shortly after before reforming towards the end of the decade for their sophomore follow up Big Fish Stories, the band would become an on again, off again labour of love from there on out whilst the members toiled away in a myriad of other groups, yet time and ears syncing up in later decades as always, this debut LP has since been reappraised for its unique and pioneering form of sunny aggro and the vast number of acts it surely inspired, who ironically eclipsed the band during a time where they needed some sunrays the most.