Death Lust

As its title suggests, singer/songwriter Brandon Williams’ debut LP under the Chastity moniker meditates on a topic most people would rather ignore. The Whitby, Ontario, native confronts mortality with impressive nuance, using differing shades of heavy music to temper pessimism and optimism (“Death Lust is about growing up death-obsessed. It’s about the pain that it takes but the capacity that we have to overcome,” he said in a press statement.) There’s a crushing, Deftones-like heft that squeezes like an anaconda on “Negative with Reason to Be” and “Innocence”. And “Children” and “Chains” chug along in murky sludge. But songs like the glitter-ball-ready “Come” and the accelerated punk rush of “Choke” point toward the light, with Williams providing steady narration no matter the pace.