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Feb 26, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Jared Schute

Today Rhode Island post-hardcore/screamo band Dreamwell have shared their sophomore full-length record, Modern Grotesque. Fully carrying the flag for post-hardcore into the 2020s, the band very well might be the ones to bring a rising post-harcore scene to new heights, just as Touche Amore, Pianos Become the Teeth, and La Dispute did a decade ago.

Across a new version of the band’s May single, “Painting Myself A Darker Day,” the previously released single “Sayaka,” and eight other unheard tracks, the band brings all of the genre’s signifiers to the fore. Explosive performances, throat-shredding vocals, and crushing instrumental intensity are all present and electrifying, but the band brings its own feel to the style that is invigorating in its own right. Crystal-clear production choices make the overwhelming hardcore and shoegaze elements cut deep, while the occasional dreamy post-rock textures offer resonant respites in between towering instrumental moments. It’s anxious, throttling, and fresh in all the right ways.

The band told Flood Magazine regarding the record, “Lyrically, we wanted to explore how pain and sorrow can oftentimes precede a moment of great and profound change in one’s life. In a lot of ways, this reflects the process of creating the record, too. This album has been surrounded by a couple of years of misfortune and setbacks, both as a band and in our personal lives. Finally releasing it means that we are officially on the other side, having grown and evolved as a band as a result, and we finally have an album we’re extremely proud of after all this hard work.” Stream Modern Grotesque below.