Album Review: CEREMONY โ Tell Me Your Dream
Artist: Ceremony
Album: Tell Me Your Dream
Label: Relapse Records
Genre: Hardcore Punk / Post-Punk / Punk Rock
Release: 7 August 2026
Tracks: 10
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Ceremony have never been a band willing to sit comfortably inside one genre.
And thank goodness for that.
Across more than two decades, the California outfit have travelled from violent hardcore punk through post-punk, new wave, noise rock and darker alternative territory, occasionally leaving genre purists scratching their heads while everyone else simply enjoyed the ride.
With Tell Me Your Dream, Ceremony somehow manage to bring those different personalities together.
The aggression is back.
The darkness never left.
And lurking underneath everything is the restless experimentation thatโs made Ceremony one of punkโs most unpredictable survivors.
Ten tracks.
No filler.
Plenty of noise.
Letโs get stuck in. ๐ค
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Track Listing
- Prograde
- Other Hells
- Madness
- Dark Summer
- Deep Down Where I Belong
- Antenna
- Justify
- Death Destruction Mayhem
- 10 Planets
- Paradise
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Track-by-Track Review
1. Prograde
Thereโs no unnecessarily dramatic three-minute intro here.
Ceremony simply arrive.
Prograde immediately establishes the albumโs nervous energy, with sharp guitars and Ross Farrarโs unmistakable vocals creating an atmosphere that feels permanently on edge.
Itโs tense.
Itโs urgent.
And itโs a cracking opening statement.
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2. Other Hells
Now weโre getting nasty.
Other Hells taps directly into Ceremonyโs hardcore DNA without sounding like theyโre desperately trying to recreate their younger selves.
The aggression feels natural rather than nostalgic.
Itโs raw, direct and confrontationalโthe sort of track capable of turning a respectable venue into an insurance claim within approximately thirty seconds.
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3. Madness
Rather than simply increasing the speed, Madness finds a darker groove.
Thereโs frustration bubbling underneath everything while the instrumentation gradually tightens around Farrarโs vocals.
Itโs uncomfortable in exactly the right way.
Ceremony have always understood that punk doesnโt necessarily mean playing everything at 200mph.
Sometimes tension is considerably more effective.
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4. Dark Summer
One of the albumโs strongest moments.
Dark Summer dives headfirst into Ceremonyโs post-punk side, with colder guitar textures and a wonderfully bleak atmosphere.
If Other Hells punches you in the face, Dark Summer stands silently across the room making you increasingly uncomfortable.
Both approaches work.
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5. Deep Down Where I Belong
Things become more introspective here.
Thereโs vulnerability underneath the darkness, allowing Ceremonyโs songwriting to breathe while demonstrating just how far the band have travelled since their earliest hardcore releases.
The intensity hasnโt disappeared.
Itโs simply turned inward.
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6. Antenna
Antenna brings the nervous energy straight back.
Everything feels slightly unstable, as though the track could collapse into complete chaos at any moment.
But thatโs the trick.
Ceremony remain completely in control.
Itโs twitchy, urgent and gloriously weird.
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7. Justify
Short.
Sharp.
Effective.
Justify doesnโt hang around trying to impress anyone.
It arrives, delivers its message and disappears again.
Thereโs something wonderfully old-school about that approach.
No unnecessary musical gymnastics.
No eight-minute guitar solo.
Job done.
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8. Death Destruction Mayhem
Come on.
Itโs called Death Destruction Mayhem.
Were you expecting a gentle piano ballad? ๐
This is one of the albumโs biggest adrenaline injections, combining hardcore aggression with enough hookiness to make the whole thing dangerously infectious.
Live?
Absolute carnage.
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9. 10 Planets
Time to get strange.
10 Planets demonstrates Ceremonyโs willingness to continue experimenting rather than settling into comfortable territory.
Atmosphere becomes increasingly important while the band stretch the boundaries of what listeners might expect from them.
Some fans will immediately adore it.
Others might need a couple of listens.
Thatโs usually a sign something interesting is happening.
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10. Paradise
And then we reach Paradise.
Rather than simply closing the album with another hardcore explosion, Ceremony deliver something broader and more emotionally satisfying.
Elements of everything weโve heard throughout the record seem to collide here.
Punk.
Post-punk.
Melody.
Anxiety.
Atmosphere.
Emotion.
Itโs an excellent way to finish.
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The Breakdown
Vocals
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Ross Farrar remains an incredibly compelling presence. His delivery carries anger, vulnerability and nervous energy in equal measure.
Guitars
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Sharp hardcore abrasion meets darker post-punk textures, giving the album an impressively varied sonic identity.
Rhythm Section
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The bass and drums are absolutely crucial here, providing everything from hardcore momentum to hypnotic post-punk groove.
Production
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Raw enough to retain Ceremonyโs personality while providing enough clarity for the recordโs subtler details to shine.
Songwriting
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The biggest achievement is how naturally all these different influences coexist.
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Standout Tracks
๐ฅ Other Hells
๐ฅ Madness
๐ฅ Dark Summer
๐ฅ Death Destruction Mayhem
๐ฅ Paradise
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The Riff Report Verdict
Tell Me Your Dream succeeds because Ceremony arenโt pretending the last twenty-plus years didnโt happen.
They havenโt suddenly decided to abandon everything theyโve explored and return exclusively to hardcore.
Instead, theyโve taken those years of experimentation and folded them back into the aggression that originally defined them.
The result feels like several versions of Ceremony existing simultaneously.
Thereโs the furious punk band.
The gloomy post-punk band.
The experimental weirdos.
The rock โnโ roll troublemakers.
And somehow, all of them belong together.
Thatโs what makes Tell Me Your Dream such an exciting listen.
Twenty years into a career, plenty of bands know exactly what theyโre going to sound like before entering the studio.
Ceremony still sound like theyโre discovering it.
And thatโs far more exciting.
THE RIFF REPORT RATING
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5/5 GUITARS
Dark. Aggressive. Weird. Emotional.
Ceremony continue to evolve without forgetting where they came from. Tell Me Your Dream isnโt simply a return to hardcoreโitโs everything Ceremony have become smashed together into one gloriously unpredictable punk record. ๐ค๐ฅ๐ค
