It's a new era for Chastity, and it starts off — quite literally — with a bang. A single, blown out tom hit is all the warning you're given before Chastity launches a full-on assault on the heart and the head. Punishing guitars and pounding drums hit deep in the chest, building intensity that cascades across the 13-track self-titled effort. Even in moments of fragility, of relative quiet, that intensity is never more than a chord-strike away, like the energy of a mosh pit as the band tunes their guitars.
Tackling familiar topics for the Brandon Williams-led project — despair, loneliness, death, redemption — Chastity elevates the subject matter to new heights, delivering the first "fully non-fiction" work, based on Williams's lived experiences growing up in suburban Ontario. "It's a record about struggle, about the missing years. It's also a thank you to some people in my life," he claimed in press materials. That duality is felt as much sonically as lyrically, with the band expertly sashaying through genres like hardcore, emo, pop, shoegaze and post-rock to deliver an album that's as much a battle scar as it is an open wound.
Instant classic and lead single "Summer All Over Again" dregs up the classic emo of the early aughts, as fitting palm-mutes and familiar drum motifs carry the painfully relatable lines, "Summer all over again / And I am still stuck in my own head / Running from everything / I can't just live in the moment." Simple words that get at the heart of the matter, this is the particular strength of Williams's writing: his ability to remain strikingly honest and deeply personal while illuminating the ubiquity of his — of our — struggles.
Third single "Offing" is a mellower affair, with the distortion dialed back to make space for country licks and spacious rhythmic breakdowns, in the vein of later Title Fight or Deafheaven. Nostalgia once again takes centre stage, as Williams wistfully recalls the lost years and the paths that those struggles carved into his core: "I'm not afraid of what I want / I'm afraid it's already gone." Although a thematically heavy track, Williams is never one to reach for low hanging fruit, rounding out the track with a determined and unifying chant — "If you've got approval, I want it."
"Free for All" showcases Chastity's ability to absolutely throw down, serving quintessential hardcore and swaggering alt-punk with tones so blistering, so face-melting, it begs the question, "Can you play a guitar that's literally on fire?" The vocal production is notably gnarlier too, giving Williams's otherwise refined voice a demonic quality that lends itself to the subject matter. The gut-punching toms, clever rhythm shifts and gigantic production on "Free for All" solidifies it as a standout on Chastity.
The album closes with a goosebump-inducing slow burn, "Drawing the Sun Back in the Corner of the Paper", a shoegaze-y meditation on gratitude for the care of others. "Showed up damaged beyond belief / Didn't hold it against me / Just believed in me / Drawing the sun back in the corner of the paper / I want to thank you." Once again utilizing childhood nostalgia, Williams puts the crayon in the hand of the listener, inviting us to reflect on the importance of friendship, family and loving partners through difficult times. The album ends with an open-ended question, so simple yet deeply felt: "If I come home this weekend / Would you want to do something?"
Catchy, heart-baring singalongs and head-banging scream-alongs worm their way through more complex and thematically heavy tracks while Williams never shies away from difficult topics, doing so with grace and confidence. Chastity is a welcome (if scalding) addition to an already impressive catalogue.