NEWNOISE
CHAT PILE
The US metallic noise punks storming the mainstream
WORDS: STEPHEN HILL • MATTHEW ZAGORSKI
“IT SEEMS LIKE the metal purists are a little… shy about claiming us,” Chat Pile guitarist Luther Manhole admits.
He’s not wrong. Despite having a sound that crosses over into a variety of scenes –from hardcore to noise rock, alt metal and beyond –and releasing critically acclaimed albums in 2022’s God’s Country and 2024’s Cool World, the Oklahoma City quartet seem to do a pretty good job of pissing people off. Not least because they’re using the iconography of extreme metal.
“Spiritually, our music is as dark as any black metal music or whatever,” snorts bassist Stin. “Maybe the actual delivery system is a little different, but the message and the emotional qualities we’re trying to portray are there. But the elitists don’t like that we have a scratchy twig-looking metal logo. I don’t think it’s stolen valour to have a metal logo, but it pisses off these purists, who think that we’re just hipsters appropriating metal culture or whatever. Get bent –I don’t care!”