Album Review: The Chariot - 'One Wing'

The Chariot don’t make things easy to comprehend. Their sound is not one that is immediately relatable. However, if you have patience and are willing to extend those musical barriers then the pay-off manifests itself in the listeners collective enjoyment.

It’s abrasive, it’s raw, it’s The Chariot. The sound finds its appeal in its controlled chaos and reveals its charms in the intense delivery.

A widespread sporting proclamation urges athletes to leave nothing on the field. Well, this appears transferable. Atlanta’s The Chariot leave absolutely nothing in the studio, nothing in the rehearsal room and certainly nothing on the stage. It’s this ‘We’re going to command attention with our energy’ type of musical persona that creates respect.

Despite having sounds very similar in essence, Josh Scogin has stepped out of the Norma Jean mould. In many respects it’s probably unfair to keep harping on about the parallels.

Predecessor ‘Long Live’ had its moments – impressive songs and house trashing anthems. It was formed but still had room to grow. ‘One Wing’ is an expected progression on this. There’s a sense of intimacy to the album. It has that discordant feel that differs from traditional hardcore, but at equal times shows the band is capable of playing straight down the line punk rock.

One word titles make up the track list, which when pieced together in direct sequence state, “Forget not your first love. Speak in tongues and cheek.” Yep, this is a Chariot record.

‘Forget’ is piercing and offers no surprises in the sound, which is intended as a good thing. While, ‘First’ transitions and evolves into this Mexican, western battle passage, with the obligatory trumpets and sounds of whips providing the backdrop to Scogin’s refrains. ‘Tongues’ is a sludgier affair, with closer ‘Cheek’ ending with a Charlie Chaplin speech set against the stylings of any increasing rhythm before it returns to more considered pace.

It might be a challenging listen and at times The Chariot might make it hard for you to love them, but ‘One Wing’ just feels right.

‘One Wing’ demonstrates that intensity, unpredictability and schizophrenic musical approaches can not only sound structured, but be delivered in such a fluent way. It’s not flawless, however this is The Chariot arguably in their prime.

1. Forget

2. not

3. your

4. first

5. love.

6. Speak

7. in

8. tongues

9. and

10. cheek.