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Critic Reviews
80
The synths are darker, the drums are heavier, the vocals more melancholic than anything fans would have previously heard from them, yet still catchy as hell.
6y
80
Ceremony ... is filled with surprising sonic twists and turns, but more so than in past releases, Benthal and Carter allow room for ideas to develop into full sections rather than bursts of flavor.
6y
80
The last few tracks, starting with “Glowing”—a beautiful, touching ballad—reveal a shift in tone, and represent something like emotional progress, or, perhaps more likely, just simple exhaustion from all the very real drama of the world around us. In the end, it’s probably a little bit of both, and that’s something a lot of listeners will be able to relate to.
6y
70
It's definitely a step back in the right direction after the last album's stumble and stacks up to be their most consistent and enjoyable record to date.
6y
70
Ceremony is an album about moving around in psychological states.
6y
68
The moody duo try on multiple neon-colored hats, and not all of them fit.
6y
59
The duo foreground their most conventional pop sounds on their fourth album, but remain at their best at their strangest.
6y
40
Ceremony is one of Phantogram's weakest records, one that struggles to set itself apart in the sea of electro-pop still stuck in the aesthetics of the late 2010s.
6y
Phantogram came in swinging into 2020. Their singles Into Happiness and In a Spiral were some of my personal favorites of 2019. Eventually the wait was over and Ceremony came. The album title intrigued me because it was a complete opposite of what the album cover looks like, it looks more like a funeral. But that is what they were going for, Phantogram have always played with light and dark so of course they are going to go into detail to do that.
The album starts with Dear God, an excellent ... read more
Was it good idea to re-review exactly this album in 2am after taking my sleeping pills, no but here we are.
Easily this year's most conflcted release to me. If you don't know by now, Phantogram is my all-time favourite band and I always felt their 2016 "Three" album closing a certain chapter in their musical career. Ceremony is aftermath, what is easy to swallow but hard to process.
It succeeds enough, it actually succeeds really well. It sounds exactly like a desperate aftermath ... read more
Went in feeling it but left feeling like I kinda wasted my time. Pick you favorite track or two and add it to a playlist, full album isn't necessary.
lemme uhhh relisten to this one day
Favorite Track:
- Mister Impossible
LISTENED:
MARCH 4, 2025
The tracks themselves aren't bad, but they just don't add together to make anything that special.
Top 3:
1. Into Happiness
2. Pedestal
3. Glowing
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Track List
| 1 | Dear God 3:27 | 82 |
| 2 | In a Spiral 3:23 | 89 |
| 3 | Into Happiness 3:21 | 89 |
| 4 | Pedestal 3:11 | 73 |
| 5 | Love Me Now 2:54 | 80 |
| 6 | Let Me Down 3:29 | 80 |
| 7 | News Today 1:59 | 66 |
| 8 | Mister Impossible 3:36 | 77 |
| 9 | Glowing 3:22 | 76 |
| 10 | Gaunt Kids 3:05 | 76 |
| 11 | Ceremony 5:37 | 85 |
Total Length: 37 minutes
