Musical Style and Influences
The band's music is characterized by a metal sound, and the screaming vocal style of band leader Josh Scogin. Journalists have frequently referred to the music as "chaotic"; Allmusic writer Alex Henderson described it as a "dense, clobbering sledgehammer", while Brian Shultz of Alternative Press called it "manically pounding, distortion-soaked exercises of catharsis". The Chariot has often been labeled a metalcore band. However, the music generally defies genre standards like melodic/abrasive dynamics and harmonizing vocals; it wouldn't leave room for the "nonstop firestorm of exploding drums, heaving guitars, and visceral shrieking," as Allmusic writer Corey Apar put it. The band utilizes time changes and start-stop shifts, and typically write very short songs. Some journalists believe the music is challenging and an acquired taste. In interviews, Josh Scogin has described the band as “heavy punk rock”, doing away with genres and subgenres, and has also debunked many of these labels. “Sometimes people refer to us as mathcore, which I think is a very incorrect statement, because I feel like that’s a very pre-calculated, ‘this is weird because this time signature doesn’t go with this time…’. It’s very planned out. We’re not that smart.”
Live performances are very important to the band. "We love playing live," said Scogin, "That's what this band are all about: playing live shows." This mentality leaked into their recording process: the band's first album was recorded entirely live in one take. Their next two efforts followed more traditional recording sensibilities: "We may go in and this one part," explained Scogin, "but there's lots of stuff we probably should have tightened up. But that it feeling like a real record." Despite their attentiveness to the recording process, Scogin has maintained that their focal point is live performances, "...recording records, that's all circled around hopefully bringing more kids to the live show so we can perform for them." The band's shows have built up a reputation; MTV called them "the thing of metalcore legend". When tasked to describe their set on the Scream the Prayer Tour in HM Magazine, Corey Erb wrote:
| “ | The best word I can find is destruction. There’s a frantic mix of bodies flailing, limbs flying, strings bending Scogin threw his microphone twice, the guitarist climbed up on the stack of amps and hung from the rafters twice, and the set ended with the band piling up amps, drums, mic stands, lights and instruments in the middle of the stage and scraping their guitar strings across the edges of the pile. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they poured gasoline on the mess and lit it up. | ” |
Artists who possessed strong showmanship skills have largely influenced Scogin; some of these artists include James Brown, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley. He is also fond of Arcade Fire, The Beatles, Björk, Interpol, and The Killers. In an interview, Scogin expressed a desire to have seen At The Drive-In and Nirvana before they disbanded.
Scogin's introspective lyrics have covered topics like materialism, death, and the Nashville Christian music industry. The lyrics for Wars and Rumors of Wars were formed after a family loss: "...only a year ago my father passed away. And I hate to say this, because it sounds like such a band-dude thing to say, but the lyrics are a lot darker than any other record just because of how personal they are for me." Scogin usually refers to his lyrics as poems and has maintained that "a song is never finished but abandoned." "...as an artist you can forever be changing a song or making a song 'better' or whatever but the moment that you stop recording and send it off to be mastered you have not 'finished' the song…you have only abandoned the song and that is how it will stay forever." His lyrics sometimes espouse Christian themes and beliefs, albeit subtly. For example, the track "Yellow Dress: Locked Knees" from Everything... contains the Spanish lyrics "Jesus, yo quiero que este mundo te conozca."; when translated, it says "Jesus, I want this world to know You." The song "And Shot Each Other" from The Fiancée fades out into a Sacred Harp choir singing the song 'Child of Grace', which features the lyrics "How happy is a child of grace, who feels his sins forgiven / This world, he cries, is not my place / I seek a place in Heaven."
The Chariot is frequently called a Christian band, which Scogin agreed with in a 2005 interview: "We are Christians in a band therefore we are a Christian band. We are not ashamed of our beliefs but we don’t force feed people what we believe either." In 2006, he reaffirmed his previous statements and further opined, "When I was growing up, if I liked, I listened to it — and I went to the shows. If I didn't, I didn't. It wasn't like, 'Oh, they don't believe the same thing I do,' People care too much about the fashion of it all. To me, a band's either good or they ain't, and that's the only thing that should matter."
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