REVIEW: Dreamwell - Hymns For The Denial Of God
- Noise Leonard
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
On their previous album, In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You, DREAMWELL offered up one of the best screamo releases of 2023. It was extremely versatile and genre-bending, with hints of metalcore and post-rock at points. Songs like I Dream’t Of A Room Of Clouds and Rue de Noms displayed the band at their most ambitious yet. The combination of the sheer catharsis of the song structures, breakdowns as well as the painfully introspective lyrics was all they needed to make their mark on the world of heavy music.
Clearly, then, they aren’t quite done yet. Three years later, and they’re following it up with Hymns For The Denial Of God, their third full LP. It’s worth touching on the title for a moment too, as frontperson Keziah Staska (otherwise known as KZ) has mentioned several times that an underlying theme of the album is criticism of organised religion, stating that “The prevailing narrative in heavy music is often, ‘If you believe in God, you’re stupid.’ This isn’t our narrative.”
This is immediately clear from the opening track Hypercrucifixion, beginning on a spoken word intro, slowly easing you in as light guitar arpeggios play over it, before KZ shrieks “What would you do if a voice spoke back?”, and as if in response, the instrumentation joins in, almost sounding unsure of itself as it stutters between leaving and joining with the vocals. This is all before everything comes together in a 2000s post-hardcore-esque chorus. It’s got more tricks up its sleeve yet though, because after an absolutely brutal breakdown the song slows down, with a bright guitar tone, as KZ presents the question “What would you do if Christ came back, as something that scares you, like an immigrant child or a homeless black man?” It’s a cutting and powerful verse, directly confronting the way Christianity as organised religion attempts to justify its ideology of mindless discrimination and white nationalism, laying it completely bare. “What would you do with the hammer and nails then?”, KZ says, as the music leaves their voice to linger in the air, but just for a moment, as the last 30 seconds burst into intense noise and screams.
Hypercrucifixation is a great start, but it’s also the longest track on the album. We have to wonder if we’re going to see anywhere near the same level of ambition on the rest of the album. Sissy Hate Machine is a metalcore-tinged track reflecting on KZ’s non-binary identity. You feel the desperation in their voice, and the need to escape binary classifications is clear from the very first line. The idea of their very identity being weaponised in lines like “I am not the enemy, but the weapon you create”, the sheer anger at violence committed towards fellow queer people. It’s a reminder that our voices need to be heard no matter what, and we are allowed to be angry - and sometimes, perhaps, we have to.
Plath Vs. Kafka Vs. Romance is the closest thing this album has to a centrepiece, and it might also be the most straight-forward. Don’t let that fool you though, this song is still packed full of the emotional gut-punches that DREAMWELL are known for. The Kafka-inspired lyrics like “All flowers turn to ash whenever I let my voice be heard”, the discordant chord progression, the breakdown in the middle. They hit all the marks here, describing it as a “mosh-y early-2000s style we’d been ignoring for a while”. It’s absolutely that, and maybe the only song on this record you could describe as “fun”.
Finally, we have the closing track, Cherub Rock Of Gibraltar. If you’re expecting SMASHING PUMPKINS based on that title, you’re totally off the mark. This is the explosive finale to an explosive album. There are guitar passages that one could describe as “anthemic”, and it’s in clear opposition to KZ’s lyricism here, opening on the line “I want to watch everyone that I love die. Let there be no one left to bear the weight of my absence when I’m gone.” It’s the final song, and it feels the most strongly-aligned with the previous album. Where the rest of the album seems to look outwards, this song looks inward. “Just snuff me out” is the line they leave us on.
Hymns For The Denial Of God is several things. It’s a fantastic screamo album, for one. The lyrical content, the visceral anger present in almost every line, and the nasty breakdowns are the spirit of emotional hardcore. It is also the follow-up to an album with more sonically tantalising instrumentation, and it makes it seem as though DREAMWELL don’t exactly have a clear signature sound. Whether or not they need to is up to them, though. This is a great effort regardless, the more simple arrangements let the lyrics shine even more, with some beautifully put-together criticisms of organised religion and reflections on the suffering of marginalised peoples.
Score: 8/10
Hymns For The Denial Of God will be released on 28th August 2026 via Prosthetic Records.
Words: Noise Leonard
Photos: Nat Lacuna
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