Violence Violence, Ceremony's 2006 debut album, is one of my favourite powerviolence albums of all time. Sophomore effort Still Nothing Moves You is also great, and there are genre switch-teasing portions on Rohnert Park that I also find compelling, but each subsequent release where they've leaned more into the new wave, post-punk sound has had diminishing returns. Which is all to say: if you're into New Order, the Damned and the last two Turnstile albums, you'll probably like Tell Me Your Dream. But personally, this album just couldn't grip me. Things get off to a strong start on "Prograde" with a pretty groovy bass line, but the rest of the song never really tries to match its catchiness. There's an occasionally great bass riff here and there on the record, but the guitars end up droning on the same chord progression, with no real melodies or any sense of dynamism. Near the end of "Justify," for example, the stifled guitar sounds like an Interpol lead that had half the notes removed. In general, Tell Me Your Dream is very spacious. The bass fills in almost all of the soundscape, with the synths and guitars coming in and out like guests — which is maybe a good thing, since the ambulance siren synths of "Other Hells" live up to the song's title. The songwriting is serviceable, but safe and sometimes redundant; it doesn't really do anything to push any of the ideas the band have been playing with for years forward. At this point, they've been post-punk longer than they were a hardcore band, and I'd expect that to be reflected in their songwriting. A press release for Tell Me Your Dream claims that the album sees Ceremony go back to their roots, taking inspiration from bands like Discharge, Crass and other "anarcho-punk troupes." Am I losing my mind, or where the hell was any of that on this record? Aside from some angrier parts of "Other Hells" where the drums get punkier, much of this LP feels like a rejection of the band's early hardcore sound. There's a line on "Dark Summer" that reads like a response to the most famous Ceremony lyric ever ("Pack your fist full of hate and take a swing at the world," from Violence Violence's "Kersed"), as vocalist Ross Farrar sings, "And I hate the colour blue / But hatred's soon to pale." Now that they've aged out of their youthful rage, the band are warning listeners that the hate that motivates them won't last forever. If only the vehicle of this message were more well-formulated and compelling, it might've really worked. If you also used to love Ceremony, Tell Me Your Dream won't be the album to win you back; we'll just have to hold out for 2036, when there will hopefully be a 30th anniversary tour for Violence Violence — and it'll probably be the best show I ever see.