This week let’s have a look at a preview track from an upcoming album. Chat Pile generated a fair bit of buzz on the back of 2022’s God’s Country full-length. Their new effort is titled Cool World and will be available on October 11 via The Flenser Records. If anyone is interested in getting their hands on a vinyl copy of the new album, it would be very wise to pre-order. The label has already sold out of all the first pressings and are into a second run, something that also happened to God’s Country.

I have talked about Chat Pile a time or two in the past but I figure it’s worth it to give a refresher on them. The band hails from Oklahoma and drew inspiration from the sometimes bleak surroundings to craft a crazy version of noise rock, sometimes venturing into various kinds of very noisy metal. It’s not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure.

Masc is the second song we’ve had as a preview from the new album. And Masc is a bit of a departure for Chat Pile in that it is two things – melodic and conventional. The words are sung rather than screamed and the more mellow tone is kept throughout, no sudden breaking into a shouting frenzy here. And the music is more reminiscent of some ’90’s alternative metal than anything else – a bit quirky, sure, but it’s honestly a fairly straightforward song with the usual verse-chorus structure. Chat Pile offered up the expected with the first single I Am Dog Now, here on Masc they showcase another side.

And this new take is very welcome. It doesn’t diverge greatly from the band’s sound, the underpinning is still there in the rhythm and instruments. But this is a very cool change of pace. Music under the “noise” genre is often considered to be just what the descriptor says, but here the band flex out a bit and showcase the ability to explore other waters.

Also of note is the video. It was directed by short film creator Stephen Mondics and it is very, very visually striking. Now, I can’t tell exactly what the hell is going on in there, but I can say that I like looking at it very much.

Masc is a great track from Chat Pile, and it will be interesting to hear the new album next month. This will be one of the more hotly anticipated records of the indie/underground scene this year.