Send "The Chariot " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Absolutepunk |
 A few months ago, if you told me to listen to The Chariot I would have never done it. I could not stand their music one bit, but this music grows on you. Now because of this album I have joined the fan club of this band. The Chariot have released one of the most annoying, loudest, brash, off-the-wall, albums to date by any band, and I cannot get enough of this album. Beginning with a few seconds of guitar feedback, you know you’re being thrown back into the Chariot’s circle of hell. The album begins with “Evan Perks” which is essentially one breakdown, with Josh Scogin repeating “Disappointed, I Know You Are.” “The Audience” does not let up this vibe as its right back into the ring. One of the filthiest guitar riffs lies in the beginning of this song, right before the song kicks back into sporadic, aka normal Chariot territory. This is the part of the album I am most in love with; “Calvin Makenzie” is a pure hardcore song, with some southern twang in the guitars. But the real treat is how a easy-listening 40’s radio broadcast gets thrown into the song at the most random time. A few seconds goes by and Scogin is back to finish his line. I love this little jingle, and how it just ends the song at such a random note. “The City” is easily the single from the album, everything just works in this song, the power chords building up Scogin’s line “Enough is Enough” The final two minutes of this song steal the show, as we see Scogin at his absolute most intense, screaming for a good 80 seconds without taking much of a breath. As his verse intensifies, the guitars give out a shrieking feedback tone, with Scogin finishing on a classic “THIS IS A REVOLUTION” which is followed by one of the best “Whoa-Oh’s” I have ever heard, from any band, any genre. “David de la Hoz” is another Chariot classic, the song is filled with everything you can think of. The song reminds me of a MUCH shorter “Ants of the Sky” by Between the Buried and Me simply because it has really random parts that just make the song work. Midway through this song comes Dan Smith of Listener who uses spoken-word poetry in which he talks about staying your path in life. This is followed by one of the lowest tuned breakdowns I have heard, then followed by soft piano, accordion, xylophone, and a harp; yeah a harp. Amazingly, it fits the song, and just ends it off right....full text |
| Altsounds |
| C’mon, people now, feel the rage and confusion. Living in modernity? Not sure about it? Neither are the boys in The Chariot. Backwards hardcore that is as explosive as a meth lab, and much like those monuments to worse living through chemistry, Long Live is an unstable affair. Some moments of impossibly powerful transcendence, and unfortunately quite a bit of inert material as well. I have to admit, the now-clichéd Cookie Monster-going-cold-turkey vocal that characterises a lot of aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhh-metal doesn’t have much appeal to me, and there are plenty of occasions on which The Chariot’s singer, Josh Scogin’s vocal dips into generic amorphous garble, but when he’s on, he’s on...full text |
| Sonicabuse |
| Opening with a burst of feedback that could cause even the terminally hard of hearing to wince, it rapidly becomes apparent that that is probably the gentlest thing you’ll here on this over-amped, neurotic, warped slice of extreme brutality. As the riffs grind through your speakers vocalist Josh Scogin screeches ‘disappointed, I know you are’ which is actually pretty far from the truth because I’m anything but… The Chariot then, for this is they, make the kind of ugly music that has casual music fans asking me if I genuinely enjoy stuff like this or if I am just trying to look cool. I would have to argue the latter because who tries to look cool by listening to the unlistenable? Rather I enjoy music that tests boundaries and if, as is the case here, that can sometimes be something of an endurance test, then all the better – at least it’s different. The chariot produce a kind of hardcore, but one that is steeped in metal and grindcore and the net result is rather like listening to Khanate on vinyl at the wrong speed setting. Certainly Josh has the rawest voice since Alan Dubin stepped up to the mic so wouldn’t you be surprised if in the middle of ‘Calvin Makenzie’ the lurch and grind of the band’s full-throttle rock was suddenly subjugated to the glorious melody of a 1950’s-esque track? It’s the kind of detail (and perhaps humour) that so many bands lack and it’s a step into left-field which immediately causes you to pay more attention – this is a band worth listening to. With every song offering up levels of intensity that you’d be hard pressed to match the promo sheet, admirably written as it is, just does not do the band justice and thus far the best way to truly appreciate the power of this band (short of listening to it) is to look at the raucous cover photo which echoes Nirvana’s Bleach in simplicity but which also is the perfect snapshot of the intensity the band’s gigs offer. At a mere thirty minutes, this is the sort of album that rarely pauses to take stock of its surroundings; the ethos is simple, keep up or die trying and that is undoubtedly a principle that the band also apply with steely-eyed ruthlessness in the pit. Even so it is the epic clarity of vision that the band have employed with every song that makes them so special. Take ‘The city’ as an example. Brutally heavy, vocally terrifying and yet the song closes with the sort of gorgeous harmony that the Arcade Fire made their stock in trade. It is this consistent ability to surprise and develop their sound that makes The Chariot so astonishing and yet they never once compromise the overall heaviness of their music. Highlights include the droning doom of ‘The earth’, the aforementioned beauty that closes ‘the city’, the ethereal closing notes to David De La Hoz which are as unexpected as they are sublime and the terrifying art-rock squall of ‘the heavens’ but then, in all honesty, finding highlights may be as simple as reading the ten-song track-list because every track offers up something different to admire....full text |
The Chariot lyrics
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