Album Review: CEREMONY – 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
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸 5/5 Guitars
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 that’s made Ceremony one of punk’s most unpredictable survivors.
Ten tracks.
No filler.
Plenty of noise.
Let’s get stuck in. 🤘
💿
Track Listing
- Prograde
- Other Hells
- Madness
- Dark Summer
- Deep Down Where I Belong
- Antenna
- Justify
- Death Destruction Mayhem
- 10 Planets
- Paradise
🔥
Track-by-Track Review
1. Prograde
There’s no unnecessarily dramatic three-minute intro here.
Ceremony simply arrive.
Prograde immediately establishes the album’s nervous energy, with sharp guitars and Ross Farrar’s unmistakable vocals creating an atmosphere that feels permanently on edge.
It’s tense.
It’s urgent.
And it’s a cracking opening statement.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
2. Other Hells
Now we’re getting nasty.
Other Hells taps directly into Ceremony’s hardcore DNA without sounding like they’re desperately trying to recreate their younger selves.
The aggression feels natural rather than nostalgic.
It’s raw, direct and confrontational—the sort of track capable of turning a respectable venue into an insurance claim within approximately thirty seconds.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
3. Madness
Rather than simply increasing the speed, Madness finds a darker groove.
There’s frustration bubbling underneath everything while the instrumentation gradually tightens around Farrar’s vocals.
It’s uncomfortable in exactly the right way.
Ceremony have always understood that punk doesn’t necessarily mean playing everything at 200mph.
Sometimes tension is considerably more effective.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
4. Dark Summer
One of the album’s strongest moments.
Dark Summer dives headfirst into Ceremony’s 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.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
5. Deep Down Where I Belong
Things become more introspective here.
There’s vulnerability underneath the darkness, allowing Ceremony’s songwriting to breathe while demonstrating just how far the band have travelled since their earliest hardcore releases.
The intensity hasn’t disappeared.
It’s simply turned inward.
🎸🎸🎸🎸
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 that’s the trick.
Ceremony remain completely in control.
It’s twitchy, urgent and gloriously weird.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
7. Justify
Short.
Sharp.
Effective.
Justify doesn’t hang around trying to impress anyone.
It arrives, delivers its message and disappears again.
There’s something wonderfully old-school about that approach.
No unnecessary musical gymnastics.
No eight-minute guitar solo.
Job done.
🎸🎸🎸🎸
8. Death Destruction Mayhem
Come on.
It’s called Death Destruction Mayhem.
Were you expecting a gentle piano ballad? 😂
This is one of the album’s biggest adrenaline injections, combining hardcore aggression with enough hookiness to make the whole thing dangerously infectious.
Live?
Absolute carnage.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
9. 10 Planets
Time to get strange.
10 Planets demonstrates Ceremony’s 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.
That’s usually a sign something interesting is happening.
🎸🎸🎸🎸
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 we’ve heard throughout the record seem to collide here.
Punk.
Post-punk.
Melody.
Anxiety.
Atmosphere.
Emotion.
It’s an excellent way to finish.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
🎤
The Breakdown
Vocals
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Ross Farrar remains an incredibly compelling presence. His delivery carries anger, vulnerability and nervous energy in equal measure.
Guitars
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Sharp hardcore abrasion meets darker post-punk textures, giving the album an impressively varied sonic identity.
Rhythm Section
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
The bass and drums are absolutely crucial here, providing everything from hardcore momentum to hypnotic post-punk groove.
Production
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Raw enough to retain Ceremony’s personality while providing enough clarity for the record’s subtler details to shine.
Songwriting
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
The biggest achievement is how naturally all these different influences coexist.
🏆
Standout Tracks
🔥 Other Hells
🔥 Madness
🔥 Dark Summer
🔥 Death Destruction Mayhem
🔥 Paradise
🤘
The Riff Report Verdict
Tell Me Your Dream succeeds because Ceremony aren’t pretending the last twenty-plus years didn’t happen.
They haven’t suddenly decided to abandon everything they’ve explored and return exclusively to hardcore.
Instead, they’ve 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.
There’s the furious punk band.
The gloomy post-punk band.
The experimental weirdos.
The rock ‘n’ roll troublemakers.
And somehow, all of them belong together.
That’s what makes Tell Me Your Dream such an exciting listen.
Twenty years into a career, plenty of bands know exactly what they’re going to sound like before entering the studio.
Ceremony still sound like they’re discovering it.
And that’s far more exciting.
THE RIFF REPORT RATING
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
5/5 GUITARS
Dark. Aggressive. Weird. Emotional.
Ceremony continue to evolve without forgetting where they came from. Tell Me Your Dream isn’t simply a return to hardcore—it’s everything Ceremony have become smashed together into one gloriously unpredictable punk record. 🖤🔥🤘
Michael is the founder, editor, and chief riff wrangler behind The Riff Report, an independent Welsh rock and metal publication built by fans, for fans. With a lifelong passion for loud guitars, unforgettable live shows, and the incredible community that surrounds rock and metal, he created The Riff Report to celebrate everything that makes the scene special—from legendary headline acts and grassroots venues to rising bands that deserve to be heard.
A familiar face at festivals across the UK, Michael spends much of the year covering events including Download Festival, Bloodstock Open Air, Steelhouse Festival, Firevolt, Plumpton Revival, and many more. Whether he’s battling the Welsh weather on a mountainside, surviving a weekend in a muddy campsite, or squeezed against the front barrier with thousands of fellow fans, he’s always searching for the next great story to share.
As editor of The Riff Report, Michael writes festival guides, breaking news, album reviews, gig reviews, interviews, opinion pieces, nostalgia features, and behind-the-scenes stories from across the rock and metal world. His writing combines honest opinions, humour, and a genuine love for live music, bringing readers closer to the bands, festivals, venues, and people that keep the scene alive.
Michael is particularly passionate about supporting independent artists, local venues, charities, and the wider UK rock and metal community. He believes every band deserves a chance to be discovered and every festival has a story worth telling. Through The Riff Report, he aims to shine a spotlight on both the biggest names in rock and the future stars waiting to break through.
When he’s not writing or interviewing artists, you’ll probably find him exploring festival campsites, photographing live shows, chatting with fellow fans over a pint, or planning the next road trip in search of more riffs, bigger crowds, and unforgettable moments.
Above all, Michael believes rock and metal are about more than music—they’re about community, friendship, and creating memories that last a lifetime. That’s exactly what The Riff Report exists to celebrate.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Always chasing the next great riff. 🤘
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