Ty Segall // Chrome

After the largely self-contained Possession, Ty Segall swings the door back open on Chrome, reuniting with Emmett Kelly, Mikal Cronin, Ben Boye, and Evan Burrows for a record that thrives on the sound of five musicians pushing against one another in real time. Produced by Segall and Cooper Crain, the album is immediate and muscular, built from serrated twin guitars, thick keyboard color, and a rhythm section that can turn from blunt-force drive to loose-limbed swing without losing momentum. “Running to Nowhere” and “Everything You’ve Been” hit with the efficiency of a band that knows exactly how much damage a few minutes can do, while “Glass” stretches that force into a more labyrinthine mix of prog, metal, and psychedelia. Segall still has a gift for hiding melody inside abrasion, and Chrome is at its best when the sweetness and the ugliness arrive together. “Black Paint” is all chiming guitars and bright vocal interplay before disappearing almost as quickly as it arrived, while “Let Go” reconnects Segall’s garage-punk instincts to a heavier, more disciplined attack. The nearly five-minute “Play Cowboys” loosens the grip, giving Boye’s keyboards more room and letting Segall’s vocals drift toward a surprisingly tender croon. What makes Chrome more than another strong entry in a famously crowded discography is the collective charge behind it. The riffs are bigger, the arrangements tighter, and the contrasts sharper, but the album never feels overworked. It sounds rehearsed enough to explode on command, then captured before the sparks had time to cool.