Album Reviews
One thing you can’t say about Ceremony is that they make the same album twice. From their powerviolence beginnings to 2010’s landmark Rohnert Park and the post-punk/new wave worship of their later releases, the California outfit has consistently refused to settle for repetition. So where do they go on their new album, Tell Me Your Dream? Well, pretty much all over the place. And not necessarily to their advantage.
Opening track “Prograde” charges in with the heavy, rhythmic swagger of IDLES and Viagra Boys, while “Other Hells” goes for an old-school Crass or Discharge vibe. Meanwhile, “Madness” aims for your dancing legs while sounding like Parquet Courts. Elsewhere, mid-tempo cuts like “Dark Summer” and “Antenna” lean heavily into slow, brooding new wave. It’s certainly a vibe, but the tracks themselves don’t really go anywhere, fading out before delivering any kind of payoff.
The only real highlight on the album is “Death Destruction Mayhem,” a relentless track with a killer chorus. If the entire album was like this, it would have been a completely different story. But as it stands, Tell Me Your Dream feels less like a cohesive record and more like a scattered collection of B-sides. The band’s signature shape-shifting energy is there, but the songwriting feels disjointed and surprisingly uninspired. You can say a lot of things about Ceremony’s unpredictable career trajectory, but up until now, "derivative" and "slightly boring" were never on the list.
Tell Me Your Dream track listing:
- Prograde
- Other Hells
- Madness
- Dark Summer
- Deep Down Where I Belong
- Antenna
- Justify
- Death Destruction Mayhem
- 10 Planets
- Paradise
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
