Today, I was excited to see a review copy of the new Chat Pile album Who Loves the Sun land in my inbox. I'll be posting a review of it next week after the embargo lifts, but to prepare for that review, I decided to revisit all of Chat Pile's releases so far. And hey, while I'm at it, why not write about it?

So far, all of the entries in my (newly retitled) The Catalog feature have focused on bands that I wanted to learn more about. This entry is a little different, as Chat Pile is a band that I know quite well. All three of their studio albums so far (including their collaborative release with Hayden Pedigo) landed at the top of my personal best of the year lists. They also have various odds and ends in their discography which I've spent less time with, so it seemed like a good opportunity to review their work in total, prepare for the new album, and try a slightly different spin on this column's format. 

One final note: After my Who Loves the Sun review runs, I'll update this post to incorporate some thoughts on that album. Onwards!

Unlike previous entries in this column, I'll be covering the band's entire discography, not just studio albums. The only exception is the band's live album - while it's a good live recording, there's no new material on it to cover. But everything else is making the cut this time, including a few very oddball releases. As always, I listened to everything in chronological order to the best of my ability - if two releases came out in the same year I tried to get the order correct, but I can't completely guarantee it. 

This Dungeon Earth: The band's first EP sees Chat Pile earning their designation as a sludge metal band. This Dungeon Earth is swampy and grinding, and established the band's reputation for politically motivated, horrifying, and often absurdist songs. "Rainbow Meat," with its terrifying refrain of "Send my body to Arby's," is the prime example. 

Remove Your Skin Please: Opening track "Dallas Beltway" features vocalist Raygun Busch delivering his talk-singing vocals over Godflesh-inspired guitars, again pontificating about the horrors of modern life. This EP also features the song "Mask," the first in a series of similarly named tracks from the band. While Remove Your Skin Please has a sound that aligns closely with that on the first album God's Country, other than "Dallas Beltway" these tracks mostly sound like ideas the band would explore more successfully later. That's not to say any of them are bad, they just get better at this formula. 

Portrayal of Guilt/Chat Pile: A brief split from these two bands with one track from each, this is certainly a "completists only" release. The Portrayal of Guilt song is great, but the Chat Pile song "Brutal Truth" is actually pretty forgettable and a little sloppy, although it still gets performed live from time to time. A vinyl copy of this EP will set you back $30-40 and you'll get about seven minutes of music. No thanks. 

Roots Bloody Roots: At this point, you might think that I don't like Chat Pile that much, because I also think this Sepultura cover is pretty uninspired. I actually like the guitar tone on this track, but the tribal drumming of the original track is completely missing here. Again, this track is for completists only. 

God's Country: This is where the Chat Pile formula really starts to come together. God's Country is a truly exceptional debut album, one that establishes the band's reputation and sound, yet is clearly only a launching pad for the band to continue to explore their many ideas. Opening track "Slaughterhouse" paints a harrowing picture of the mental disintegration of a meat processing employee. "Why" may be the defining Chat Pile song to date - it established the band as simultaneously angry and empathetic, animated by rage that we humans aren't taking better care of the most vulnerable in our society. And then there's "Pamela," which highlights Raygun's love of movies by retelling Friday the 13th from the perspective of the killer, Pamela Vorhees. God's Country is an album without a bad track, but when compared to their later music it is far less expansive in sound, never straying far from a core of grinding, industrial-metal sludge. It's a testament to the strength of this album that so many tracks still show up regularly in the band's live sets - "Why," "Pamela," "Tropical Beachs, Inc.," and "grimace_smoking_weed.jpg" are all live staples. God's Country is an absolutely phenomenal debut and was easily my top album of 2022.

Tenkiller Motion Picture Soundtrack: For most Chat Pile fans, the Tenkiller Motion Picture Soundtrack was the first real indication that the band was inclined to make choices most other bands wouldn't. The soundtrack to a little-seen indie movie, the music is mostly noise rock and experimental noise, but also includes the catchy, country-tinged tune "Lake Time (Mr. Rodan)." It also has the track "Punishment Box," which foretells some of the band's later forays into death metal-influenced territory. Despite the lack of vocal tracks, there's a lot of Godflesh-inspired instrumentals on this release to enjoy. 

Brothers in Christ: Brothers in Christ is another split EP, this time with Kansas City's criminally underappreciated noise rock band Nerver. Each band gets two tracks this time, and both of Nerver's tracks absolutely crush. The two Chat Pile tracks feel like they've been somewhat forgotten to the sands of time, despite the fact that they're both pretty strong. "King" especially feels like it would have fit neatly on Cool World.

Cool World: Is Cool World Chat Pile's masterpiece? Very possibly. I'll admit that it took a while to grow on me when it first came out, but ultimately it dug its hooks in deep. The first four tracks, "I Am Dog Now," "Shame," "Frownland," and "Funny Man" are among the strongest the band has released to date, and late-album track "Masc" is one of the best songs ever written about how toxic masculinity harms men. But the other tracks that weren't released as singles or haven't made the jump to the live sets are still unskippable. Listening back for the first time in a while I'm reminded why I named Cool World the best album of 2024. It shows real evolution from God's Country, with a wider range of sounds and vocal styles, while covering a variety of social issues and being both crushingly heavy and catchy as hell. Cool World is a perfect album. 

In the Earth Again: I've been writing best of the year lists for about a decade now, but 2025 was the first year to appear on the V1 version of this site. In the Earth Again topped that list, and of this album I wrote:

"Chat Pile is a band with a lot of rage, but that rage is driven by genuine empathy for those this ugly world has fucked over. In the Earth Again shows the band exploring new ways to express these complex emotions. The fact that they delivered a curveball album so soon after breaking out with their last album Cool World shows that they're a band that's going to continue to grow and take risks. That's a big part of why they're such an exciting band, and completely deserving of the title of Best Album of 2025."

In the months since then, In the Earth Again has featured less frequently in my listening habits, but that has far more to do with my constant thirst for new music rather than changing my mind on this album. This is still one of the most fascinating parts of Chat Pile's catalog - it has some truly heavy tracks alongside the prettiest music they've released to date. "A Tear for Lucas" is the most moving song in the band's repertoire, and one I listened to a lot while processing the loss of my best friend earlier this year. 

Blood at Night/Blood at Night II: And here we have what is undoubtedly the weirdest entry in the Chat Pile catalog. Blood at Night and Blood at Night II are collections of tape loops and experimental recordings created during the Cool World sessions. These were technically released under the name "Chat Pile (+-)," so they're easy to miss. Created by bass player Stin from cassettes found at Oklahoma City thrift stores, sections of these recordings are subtly woven into Cool World. For example, I'm pretty sure the second track on Blood at Night, "North Park Mall," is used in the intro to Cool World's "I am Dog Now." I would be fascinated to watch a dissection of how this material works into that album, but they're not something I'm going to listen to often. 

Masks: A two-song single released on Sub Pop, the title track "Masks" is a ferocious banger, and the second track is a cover of Nirvana's "Sifting." What I find so interesting about this release and Chat Pile's other EPs is that these tracks could easily be folded into their albums, but they seem completely content for them to be standalone curios. 

And there you have it! It was fun to do a deep dive on the catalog that I know much better than the previous subjects of this column. As with all music obsessives, I will often get completely fixated on a band and spend a ton of time with their music. Sometimes that fixation will last for years, while other times it will fade, never to return. It's gratifying to see that Chat Pile's catalog still feels as vital to me now as when I first heard them. I am now thoroughly ready to review Who Loves the Sun. Look for that review on Monday or Tuesday of next week.