Ceremony Tell Me Your Dream
Released Aug 7, 2026 Relapse Records
Consensus forming 3 professional reviews Updated Oct 4, 2026
Split critical consensus
Consensus is still forming across 3 professional reviews. Ceremony's Tell Me Your Dream stakes a claim to the band's punk roots while edging into widescreen, bass-forward indie that divides opinion.
How ChoruScore worksCritics' Top Tracks
The songs critics returned to most
10 Planets
1 critic mention
“album highlight '10 Planets' repurposes a famous saying to potent effect” — Clash Music
Antenna
1 critic mention
“Antenna" rides a bouncy drum beat and open chords; a cracking indie-punk banger” — Clash Music
Paradise
1 critic mention
“Then there’s the lengthy closer "Paradise", which is genuinely lovely; a mellow genre-defyer with a gripping structure” — Clash Music
Full critic consensus
Ceremony's Tell Me Your Dream stakes a claim to the band's punk roots while edging into widescreen, bass-forward indie that divides opinion. Across three professional reviews the record earned a 60/100 consensus score, and critics repeatedly point to songcraft that alternates between jolting anarcho-punk energy and more spacious, synth-tinged arrangements. The quick verdict: the best songs on Tell Me Your Dream cut through with relentless low end and memorable hooks, even as other moments trade urgency for atmosphere.
Reviewers consistently highlight “Other Hells” and “Prograde” as the album's clearest victories, praising Prograde's rumbling bass and rallying vocals and noting “Other Hells” for its siren-like synths and abrasive attitude. Critics also single out “10 Planets”, “Antenna” and “Paradise” as standout tracks in different registers - from mosh-ready bounciness to a genuinely affecting closer. Professional reviews emphasize prominent bass, sparing synth touches, and a post-punk/new wave sensibility that sometimes coexists uneasily with Ceremony's harder, anarcho-punk impulses.
The consensus sketches a band balancing experimentation with diminishing returns: some reviewers praise a reclaimed mojo and catchy, mosh-able moments, while others find the guitars droning and the songwriting too cautious when measured against Ceremony's hardcore past. Taken together across three reviews, Tell Me Your Dream offers high points that make it worth seeking out for fans of raw bass-driven punk and art-indie tension, even if the record as a whole feels uneven. Read on for full reviews and track-by-track notes.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Prograde
Other Hells
Madness
Dark Summer
Deep Down Where I Belong
Antenna
Justify
Death Destruction Mayhem
10 Planets
Paradise
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 7 critics who reviewed this album
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Critic's Take
Ceremony's Tell Me Your Dream is praised for reclaiming the band's mojo, and the reviewer singles out “Other Hells” and “10 Planets” as standout moments. Tom Morgan writes in a direct, evaluative tone that celebrates the album's bouncy indie-punk songwriting, noting “Antenna” as a cracking banger and “Paradise” as a genuinely lovely closer. The narrative frames the best songs on Tell Me Your Dream as proof that Ceremony have found a satisfying sweet spot between artful restraint and mosh-able energy.
Key Points
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The best song, "Other Hells", is the hardest, most pummelling track and crystallizes the album's regained punk energy.
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The album's core strengths are concise indie-punk songwriting, emotional lyrics, and sparing, smart synth use.
Themes
Critic's Take
Ceremony have never made the same record twice, and on Tell Me Your Dream that restless appetite yields some of their best songs yet, most notably “Prograde” and “Madness”. The reviewer's ear latches onto the jangly sheen and subterranean raging anarcho-punk, praising how “Prograde” starts with a rumbling bass and Ross Farrar’s rallying yelps, and admiring “Madness” for its infectious groove and that stunning central thesis. The result is a wide-ranging album where the best tracks on Tell Me Your Dream balance chart-leaning hooks with punk danger, making those songs the clearest listenable highlights.
Key Points
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Madness is the best song for its infectious groove and a "stunningly effective" lyrical thesis.
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The album’s core strength is its wide-ranging blend of jangly new wave sheen and subterranean anarcho-punk energy.
Themes
Critic's Take
Ceremony's Tell Me Your Dream often trades bite for atmosphere, and the review makes clear why the best tracks on Tell Me Your Dream feel tied to bass-forward moments. The reviewer singles out “Prograde” for a groovy bass line that starts strong, and notes how “Other Hells” uses ambulance siren synths to live up to its title, but overall the record's guitars drone and the songwriting feels safe rather than forward-looking. The tone is rueful and exacting, pointing to spacious production where the bass carries most of the weight but the songs rarely match that promise.
Key Points
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The best song is "Prograde" because its groovy bass line provides the album's clearest moment of catchiness.
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The album's strengths are spacious production and prominent bass, but songwriting often feels safe and repetitive.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Ceremony sound like a band that has kept every face of itself alive on Tell Me Your Dream, so the best songs - notably “Other Hells” and “Madness” - feel like thrilling reconciliations of past fury and new-wave sheen. Breihan's eye for detail lands on the spidery-funky pulse of “Madness” and the synth-wobble that colors “Other Hells”, making them standout tracks among the album's fiery anthems and icy mood pieces. He frames the record as both a live-energy capture and an artful reinvention, which is why listeners searching for the best songs on Tell Me Your Dream will hear those two tracks as exemplars of the album's range.
Key Points
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The best song is "Madness" for its spidery-funky pulse and feverish intensity.
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The album's core strengths are its successful blending of hardcore energy with post-punk and new-wave textures.
Themes
