“Making this record is what got me to the point where I was ready to come out,” Beartooth mastermind Caleb Shomo says of Pure Ecstasy. In May of 2026, Shomo announced on social media that he is a “proudly gay man” after months of speculation about his sexuality following the February release of the song “Free”. “That was absolutely not the plan when I started writing this record, but it was definitely the outcome,” Shomo tells Apple Music. “During the creative explorations of the initial writing sessions, I was just allowing these parts of myself to really flow. It led me to the point where I felt it was time to dive into this shit and see what it really means in my life. For the most part, Beartooth records are generally a snapshot of the most difficult things that I’m dealing with on a personal, emotional level.” He points to the aforementioned ballad, “Free”, which he wrote with Pure Ecstasy co-producer Jordan Fish, as the catalyst for that process. “That was the first song that I wrote that was really addressing what’s going on in my life,” Shomo says. “If the whole point of a Beartooth record is to give me space to explore that, then that’s what I need to do.” The leadoff track, “Pure Ecstasy”, sets the album’s tone with an emotional anthem that balances the angst and newfound freedom of Shomo’s personal reckoning. “That song is just a very unashamed, honest piece of music,” he says. “It’s such a raw and intense and emotional song compared to some of the others, which are maybe a little more vague [lyrically]. We wanted to just lean into it on track one. It’s a little more moody and slower than most of the stuff on the record, but it’s heavy as hell and it’s fun.” At one point, Shomo considered calling the album Fuck This, Fuck You. “At the same time that I was experiencing these really high highs of me finally dealing with this stuff and being more comfortable with the truth about who I am, my life as I knew it was falling apart,” he says, referring to the end of his 14-year marriage. “What does this mean for my job, my life, for everything? So, I had this choice: Do I name [the album] something expressing the joy or the despair?” Obviously, Shomo went with joy. But that doesn’t mean Pure Ecstasy is all positivity. On “B******t”, he’s not necessarily calling out society’s prejudices or even another person. “That song is such an exploration of the original Beartooth formula,” he says. “Which is this kind of musical setting I would create to lash out. I keep writing this type of song because I’m frustrated with myself, my life, and I’m sick of being a bullshitter. I’m sick of the bullshit I’m putting other people through. It’s a very juvenile expression of anger, and it felt good to let it out.” Shomo cites “Eyes Closed” as his favourite song on the record. “I think that really is the ultimate tone of the album as a whole,” he says. “To me, it’s very rooted in the old-school Beartooth sound, where it’s about guitar riffs and big pop hooks and then a big old breakdown. But at the same time, lyrically, it’s a very good way to wrap up the whole mood of the record, where I was trying to use this avenue of making music to find a way to get through. And I just did not know how the fuck that was going to be possible for me at that time. But I just had to shut my eyes and take the fucking leap. And that’s what this whole record is.”