Like the towering mounds of toxic waste from which it gets its namesake, the music of Oklahoma City noise rock quartet Chat Pile is a suffocating, grotesque embodiment of the existential anguish that has defined the 21st Century. Between a dying planet, ever-increasing socio-economic disparity, and a general quality of life in a tailspin, one can’t help but muster a chuckle at this self-destructive dumpster fire of reality. It’s self-parody in its bleakest form and within that nihilism something undeniably alluring that four slacker okies would channel into a sound that has captivated the underground and beyond.
From the very get-go, there was an immediate allure to the idea of four otherwise ordinary guys all coming together, smoking copious amounts of weed and recording some of the heaviest, hellish, and harrowing music to ever emerge from the American heartland, if not the world. For as oppressively bleak as its sound is, Chat Pile provides a distillation of the universally relatable modern dread felt by countless people every day.
Formed in 2019 and adopting the aliases of Stin (bass), Captain Ron (drums), Luther Manhole (guitar), and Raygun Busch (vocals), Chat Pile generated an immediate stir amid a burgeoning Midwest noise rock renaissance and beyond, releasing two EPs, This Dungeon Earth and Remove Your Skin Please. Its debut full-length record God’s Country, released via The Flenser in 2022, would take the world by storm, receiving universal critical acclaim, numerous accolades including Pitchfork’s Best New Music and countless year-end lists, including Rolling Stone’s Best Metal Albums of the Year and SPIN’s Best Albums of 2022. In a similarly explosive fashion, Chat Pile would enter 2023 with a bang, in just the first six months alone, the band served as support for Lingua Ignota’s final run of shows, released Brothers In Christ, a split EP with fellow “Flyover-Country” noise roc ade its fiery international live performance debut at Roadburn 2023.
Portrayal of Guilt eschew predictability. While the Austin, Texan outfit have released material at a rapid clip since their formation only six years ago, it has been near-impossible to predict what each ensuing release might sound like. The only window into what to expect has been those releases’ titles, wallowing in themes of affliction, isolation, and just plain underworld allusion. Naturally, this leads to…Devil Music.
After shifting their sound over several immediate releases (most recent, 2021’s widely acclaimed CHRISTFUCKER), Portrayal of Guilt has transformed from masters of the traditional ‘90s screamo template, to fit a more blackened and sludgy metal intensity.
Citing a wide spectrum of influences, Devil Music, tracked in two different sessions in early 2022, is an experimental approach to writing heavy music. It offers five new original songs on Side A; and then a reimagining of those same five songs on Side B, replacing much of the traditional guitars and bass setup with an orchestral string section, acoustic bass, and brass.
