Chat Pile’s third album brightens sound but strains for new identity
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The Guardian's review of Chat Pile's third album, Who Loves the Sun, concludes that the Oklahoma sludge-metal band has swapped their trademark abrasive sound for a brighter, more melodic alt-rock direction. While this shift makes their lyrical preoccupations more accessible, the reviewer feels the record falls short of the striking originality that defined the group's earlier work, leaving them caught between their acclaimed 2022 debut and a fully realised new identity.
Where God's Country (2022) and Cool World (2024) relied on oily, grunting sludge riffs and Raygun Busch's throat-shredding vocals, Who Loves the Sun embraces jangly, XTC-influenced guitars, more dynamic song structures and hookier singing, while Busch's lyrics broaden from American violence to the wider theme of desensitisation. Tracks such as Intruder, the trip-hoppy Same Rules and the post-rock-leaning Shrine show a pleasing stylistic range, but the reviewer argues the band bypassed more distinctive avenues hinted at by their film score Tenkiller and the singer-songwriter tracks on In the Earth Again, leaving the album a straightforward softening rather than a bold reinvention.
- Guardian reviews Chat Pile's third album, Who Loves the Sun
- Band trades sludge-metal abrasiveness for brighter alt-rock sound
- Reviewer says record lacks the distinctiveness of earlier releases
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Chat Pile are a four-piece band from Oklahoma known for sludge metal, a heavy, slow, distorted style of rock, built around thick guitar riffs and vocalist Raygun Busch's harsh, shouted delivery. Their 2022 debut, God's Country, and 2024 follow-up, Cool World, won them a strong reputation, with lyrics often tackling bleak subjects like violence in America.
Their new record, Who Loves the Sun, marks a deliberate change of direction: instead of grinding sludge, it leans into brighter, more melodic alternative rock, with jangly guitars reminiscent of the band XTC and more conventional song structures. Busch's lyrics have also widened in scope, moving from specific depictions of violence to broader ideas about desensitisation, or becoming numb to disturbing things.
This matters because it marks a significant artistic pivot for a band that built its name on abrasiveness and originality, and raises the question of whether a softer, more accessible sound suits them, or whether it risks losing what made them distinctive in the first place.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Admirers of the new direction would argue that Chat Pile deserve credit for resisting the trap of repeating a successful formula, and that broadening from grunting sludge into jangly, dynamic songwriting shows genuine artistic growth rather than a loss of nerve. They would point out that widening the lyrical lens from specifically American violence to the universal theme of desensitisation makes the band's social commentary more resonant and harder to dismiss as a regional curiosity. For these listeners, a band that can convincingly inhabit trip-hop, post-rock and XTC-inflected pop within one record is demonstrating range and maturity, not timidity, and should be judged on the strength of the songs themselves rather than measured against the shock value of their debut.
The case against
Critics of the shift would counter that Chat Pile's identity was built precisely on the unrelenting abrasiveness and throat-shredding intensity that made God's Country and Cool World feel dangerous and singular, and that softening the sound risks trading a distinctive voice for a more generic, radio-friendly alt-rock palette. They would note that the band's own side-projects, such as the Tenkiller score and In the Earth Again, hint at bolder avant-garde instincts than Who Loves the Sun actually delivers, suggesting the album is a commercially cautious compromise rather than a fully committed reinvention. From this perspective, an established band's responsibility to its audience is to either deepen what made it exceptional or take a genuinely bold new risk, and a record caught between the two satisfies neither ambition.
Full account
Chat Pile, the Oklahoma City band who built a cult following on the strength of their monstrous 2022 debut God's Country, have released a new full-length titled Who Loves the Sun via The Flenser, produced by Ben Greenberg and put out on 4 September 2026. Reviews of the record do not even agree on how to number it: one account treats it as the band's third proper studio album, following God's Country and 2024's Cool World, while another describes it as their fourth studio outing. What both assessments agree on is that the record represents a deliberate move away from the grinding, oppressive sludge-metal sound that first made the group's name, towards something lighter and more melodic.
Musically, critics describe twangier, more jangling guitar work, punchier song structures and a noticeably more tuneful vocal approach from frontman Raygun Busch, whose lyrics have broadened from grim depictions of American violence towards wider anxieties about digital-age numbness, environmental catastrophe and the passive consumption of disaster on screens. Tracks singled out include Intruder, praised for pairing a springy groove and catchy chorus with an unsettling lyrical conceit about a home invasion, and the opening track (named Creature in one review), which draws a link between flooding disasters and ecological dread. One review also highlights guest vocal contributions from Nightosphere singers Claire Hannah and Brittany Sawtelle on Intruder, a detail not mentioned elsewhere, alongside quotes attributed to bassist Stin acknowledging that the album leans into a more conventional alt-rock or indie-rock feel than anything the band has released before.
The two accounts diverge most sharply in their overall verdict. One review is largely enthusiastic, framing the album as the band's most varied and self-assured work yet, praising Busch's vocal performance as dynamic and confident and pointing to later tracks such as Deep Blue, Family Funeral and October All The Time as evidence of a widening emotional and stylistic range, while noting that a slightly bloated, Nirvana-esque quality occasionally surfaces in the sound. The other review is more sceptical, arguing that although the album is more accessible, dynamically varied and eclectic than its predecessors, its central move, a straightforward smoothing-out of the band's earlier abrasiveness, ultimately disappoints. That review contrasts the new record with what it sees as more adventurous paths the band has already hinted at elsewhere, citing their soundtrack work on the film Tenkiller and their folk-inflected collaboration with guitarist Hayden Pedigo on In the Earth Again as signs of a more distinctive creative direction left unexplored here.
Taken together, the two reviews describe a band in a clear transitional phase: both recognise a lighter, hookier, more song-oriented sound and a thematic shift towards broader, more abstract anxieties, but they differ on whether this amounts to a successful reinvention or a loss of the rawness that first defined the group. One treats the record as a confident high point; the other regards it as a transitional, somewhat uneven step, watching for the band to eventually stake out an identity as striking as their debut.
Where outlets differ
The reviews disagree on how many studio albums Chat Pile have released, with one calling Who Loves the Sun their third proper album and the other calling it their fourth.
One review is broadly positive, calling it the band's most varied and confident record; the other is more critical, arguing the softer sound sacrifices the distinctiveness of their earlier work.
The reviews highlight different tracks and details: one focuses on Influence, Same Rules and Shrine and the band's side-projects (a film score and a folk collaboration) as evidence of unexplored creative directions; the other focuses on Creature, Deep Blue, Family Funeral and October All The Time, and quotes bassist Stin directly.
Only one review mentions guest vocalists (Claire Hannah and Brittany Sawtelle) appearing on Intruder, and only one gives full production and release credits (producer Ben Greenberg, release date 4 September 2026).
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Chat Pile: Who Loves the Sun review – sludge metallers resurface with a slightly limiting alt-rock rebrand”.