Why settle for one personality when you can have infinite variations on your sense of self? That certainly seems to be the philosophy The Chariot, founded by former Norma Jean frontman Josh Scogin, ascribe to.
One Wing, their fifth album, is a gloriously manic affair, its raw, despairing take on hardcore is peppered with moments of leftfield wizardry that will make your mind boggle again and again. The checkpoints are obvious – the raw, edge-of-reason fury of Converge, the wonderfully weird glitches and time signature jumps of The Dillinger Escape Plan, the meaty breakdowns of Sick Of It All – but it’s the unexpected touches that make One Wing just that little bit special.
Your features a lullaby sung in beautifully pure female voice, First is an Ennio Morricone-style western aside, And has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it snatch of 50s girl band doo-wop, while Check is based around an astonishingly rousing and thoughtful speech from Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (his first true talkie). Clearly, hardcore still has new territory to charter, and with the help of The Chariot is boldly doing so.
