Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
Oklahoma sludge metal band Chat Pile is never afraid to switch up their sound. From scoring for the independent film Tenkiller to writing a country song à la Ween’s 12 Golden Country Greats, the foursome has been taking extreme sonic risks since their 2019 inception. For their latest release, In the Earth Again, Chat Pile teams up with acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Hayden Pedigo, offering an unusual and sprawling look into the sound and lifestyle of America’s southwest.
On paper, Pedigo and Chat Pile couldn’t be more different, the only tie being that both artists now reside in Oklahoma City. Pedigo revels in the primitive beauty of the rural lifestyle, with his June 2025 release I’ll Be Waving as You Drive Away encapsulating a gentle peacefulness nurtured with love and care. Chat Pile, on the other hand, writes songs about getting your body chopped up and sold to the masses at your local Arby’s. Lead singer Raygun Busch grunts, screams, hyperventilates, and yells horror stories over drums that hit like machine gunfire and guitar and bass lines that sound like they were summoned from the darkest pit of Hell. Their combined sounds birth In the Earth Again, showcasing a different side to both artists: a darker, more apocalyptic one for Pedigo, and a kinder, more loving sound for Chat Pile.
The album features an array of entirely instrumental tracks, with the album opener “Outside” showcasing a dreamy solitude brought to life by the guitars and powerslide. “Behold a Pale Horse,” apocalyptic in nature and perhaps referencing David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, seamlessly combines the softer sound of Pedigo’s guitar with the rowdier, more distorted sound of Chat Pile’s Luther Manhole. Both artists’ music calls on the rural surroundings from which they came, and the instrumental tracks sprinkled throughout In the Earth Again create an album that’s lonely and dreary but filled to the brim with quiet beauty.
True to their habit of evolving their sound, Chat Pile includes several love songs on the record—a first for the band. They are, obviously, Chat Pile takes on a love song; “The Magic of the World” and “Demon Time” feel more like songs about finding love at the end of the world rather than about traditional romance, but the softness Pedigo brings helps the metal band fully actualize this new direction.
Despite the introduction of themes of love on the record, In the Earth Again doesn’t neglect the sound that Chat Pile has become known for. “Never Say Die!” touches on war and famine (“And there was no world / without the blood of your children / without the pain of the masses / without the screams of eight billion”), a significant theme on the band’s last album, and features a horrifying effect of layered vocals to create a cacophony of guttural noises, making the words Raygun Busch delivers feel that much more urgent and aggressive. “The Matador” offers some of the best-written and scariest lyrics in Chat Pile’s discography to date over extremely brutal guitars and drums and eerie tape loops. The eight-minute song features the distinctively soaring guitars and black metal edge Chat Pile has perfected throughout their career, and Pedigo is playing guitar right alongside them, fitting in like the missing fifth member.
Pedigo can keep up with Chat Pile, and Chat Pile can keep up with Pedigo. In the Earth Again goes beyond riffing—it’s a dance between two artists who can withhold their end of the creative process while enhancing the other. It’s not the same bombastic Chat Pile nor the same introspective Pedigo we’ve become accustomed to hearing, but an entirely reborn group of musicians.
Disappointing / Average / Good / Great / Phenomenal
In the Earth Again is out now.
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Jules Kelly | @snaiImaiI
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