DREAMWELL's third full-length, "Hymns For The Denial Of God", is out now on Prosthetic Records.
Across ten tracks the Rhode Island band harness torrential screams, off-kilter riffing and pit-splitting rhythms into something provocative and poetic — and, at 34 minutes, considerably tighter than anything they have done before. It is their shortest record and their angriest.
The target is specific. Rather than a black-and-white attack on religion, the album unravels the contradictions inside the misuse and weaponization of faith: what happens when something meant to unite people ends up driving them apart. The quartet — vocalist Keziah "KZ" Staska, guitarist and backing vocalist Ryan Couitt, bassist Justin Soares and drummer Anthony Montalbano — wrote it together during in-person rehearsals and returned to Silver Bullet Studios in Connecticut to record with producer Chris Teti.
The reviews have landed on the same reading. Boolin Tunes gave it 9/10, calling the record "real metalcore and even more real blasphemy" and noting that Staska's anger is "directed towards those that use their faith as a cudgel, preaching from their self-certified moral high ground." The same review flagged the shift in stance: where earlier DREAMWELL albums spoke in "woe is me" terms, this one is "full force 'woe upon you'."
No Clean Singing called it "unquestionably a bleaker, angrier album than either of its predecessors — as befits its tighter focus on religious hypocrisy and weaponised faith." Out Of Rage praised "a fantastic screamo album," singling out "the lyrical content, the visceral anger present in almost every line, and the nasty breakdowns." Idioteq framed the aim plainly: the band point their instability at "organised religion, the violence committed in its name and the idea that belief automatically confers morality." Knotfest described the "Carrion Birds On The Ark" single as "a confrontational, caustic three-minute burst."
DREAMWELL have been building toward this since emerging in 2020, evolving from "Modern Grotesque" (2021) to "In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You" (2023) — a record BrooklynVegan called "a post-hardcore triumph" and which drew praise from Loudwire, Knotfest, Matt Heafy and THE MOUNTAIN GOATS' John Darnielle. Stereogum noted at the time that "Obelisk Of Hands" took the band "in an epic metalcore direction before going full-on screamo meltdown at the end."
"Hymns For The Denial Of God" track listing:
- Hypercrucifixation
- Sissy Hate Machine
- Anti-Christ's Testimony
- A Crisis Of Realization
- Apostates & Gentiles
- Plath Vs. Kafka Vs. Romance
- I Dreamt I Survived An Extinction Event
- Carrion Birds On The Ark
- Your Ichthys Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
- Cherub Rock Of Gibraltar
Preview and purchase the record at dreamwell.ffm.to.