ALBUM REVIEW: Chastity – Chastity

September 12, 2024 Jack McGill

There’s something about this brand of alt-rock, which by the way if something is called the alternative to what is already the alternative it just doesn’t know what it is, that should get under your skin real easily. Oh, not in a good way though. It should boil your piss like the salted water in the pan of pasta that is bound to be served just as bland. With that being said, CHASTITY is a Ontario-based project from the mind of Brandon Williams, with three albums already under the restrictive mantle he makes one thing clear: he must really love doing this.

Loving something and doing something well are two different things though. Technically and sonically the new self-titled album is brilliant, from layers of guitar tones that capture the emotion weaved through each song, the clatter of drums sequences like plates dropping highlight moments of importance and bring down a near mouth watering result, and Williams’ vocals are everything you’d expect from a record like this. The issue with that is, the tracks emit mostly the same sort of emotions, the highs and lows all hit the same notes, and Williams’ vocals are everything you expect them to be. A few tracks in and you’ve got yourself something that feels really tired and trodden to the point of becoming a beaten track.

It’s an unfortunate case of kicking a dead horse, from the opening track Jaw Locked, through the had-it-tough track Teeth On The Curb Looking Up At The World, and the ironically knackered The Dark Circles Under My Eyes it’s a lot of condescending “I’ve a tough life that I’m not making out to be all that tough”. There’s life breathed into foals though, like heavy uppercut Free For All that makes one wonder that CHASTITY really might have something of substance to deliver but it’s short lived.

Unfortunately, the way that Chastity is supposed to pull on your heart strings isn’t executed very well. Instead of resonating with the vulnerability that Williams puts out there, the heart more so swells with the grief of a missed opportunity that the self-titled venture is. Somewhere there’s a really strong record that tramples over you, pure potential to make something that puts these first four, which isn’t a legacy you really want to leave, in the wing mirrors. Brandon Williams would be a major label’s wet dream in a writer’s room though, the ideas are there and there’s pop fans that will drink it up until bloating ensues. The side effect of bloating is usually gradually increasing uncomfortability and nausea though. Great talent, little refinement, please don’t beat that foal to death.

Rating: 5/10