On Hymns For The Denial Of God, DREAMWELL trades personal anguish for a broader examination of religion, power, and social injustice without reducing faith itself to an easy target. In this interview, the band discusses why nuance mattered when tackling such a divisive subject, the meaning behind the album’s provocative title, and how current events from humanitarian crises to systemic inequality influenced its songwriting. They also reflect on embracing heavier, early-2000s mosh driven influences, the confidence they’ve gained throughout their evolution, and why honesty, discomfort, and solidarity remain at the heart of both their music and their worldview.
Interviewer: Your new album explores the contradictions and harm that can come from the misuse of religion rather than simply attacking belief itself. What inspired you to approach such a complex topic with nuance?
KZ: “There have been a lot of people in my life who I love and respect who held various religious beliefs, and while I never believed myself, conversations I’ve had with them about God and faith have always been very illuminating. I have no interest in ever attacking or demeaning anyone for no reason, and I don’t view believing in some benevolent creator as a just reason personally. Besides, in the broader world of heavy music, anti-God music is done to death. There’s endless atheist music in the world, but very rarely does it actually critique anything of substance.”
Interviewer: The title Hymns For The Denial Of God carries a lot of weight. What does that phrase represent to you, and how did it become the centerpiece of the album?
KZ: “The title was originally going to be a lyric on the song Anti-Christ’s Testimony, “My denial of God has nothing to do with whether or not He exists,” but I wanted to shorten it a bit. That statement is centered around this idea that I’ve always held that even if the God that the Christian Nationalist far-right movement talks about, the one that justifies their bigotry and their violence, were to come down from the sky and announce himself, even if it were proven true beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is real, I still would not bow to Him.
Throughout my life, the choice to reject God has always been about more than just belief. I can believe there is a God, it makes about as much sense as anything else. But I need to start seeing some evidence that if God is real, it’s the good and loving God I’ve heard so much about, and not the one that gave clearance for an ongoing genocide to take place. ”
Interviewer: Compared to your previous records, this album looks beyond personal struggles and examines broader societal issues. What pushed you toward expanding your songwriting lens?
KZ: “It was mostly born of necessity. Things in my life were pretty great when I started writing this record. I didn’t have an awful lot to complain about. I’ve always valued authenticity and a sense of urgency as part of my writing process, this feeling of writing something that I need to get out of my body.
If I wrote a bunch of songs about being miserable just because that’s what I thought was expected of me, they would have been disingenuous. There wouldn’t have been any heart, and I won’t do that. So I looked at the world around me. The genocide in Palestine, ICE raids across the country, I live among a pretty dense unhoused population. There’s no shortage of human suffering in the world to speak out against.”
Interviewer: Was there a particular moment during the writing process where you realized this album was becoming something bigger than yourselves?
KZ: “Speaking for myself here, of course, but to be honest, no. I personally don’t let myself think of it like that until the album is recorded and assembled. When we’re writing songs, we really try to focus mostly on just writing songs we think are fun to play and sound good.
There’s a bit of conversation that goes on behind the scenes, like we’ll look at the songs we have after four or five and try to be intentional about what the flow of an album would need when we go to write a sixth. Do we need a slower song, a softer song to break things up, things like that. But we really try not to get bogged down with the idea of making something “bigger”.”
Interviewer: What conversations do you hope this record starts among listeners?
KZ: “I just want to acknowledge that change and progress comes from solidarity, and these things we use to divide ourselves make that solidarity impossible. We are never going to get anything done if we are too obsessed with this idea of being atheist and rejecting anyone of faith to join together. As long as we hold the same secular values and have the same goals for the world around us, we need to be unified. Otherwise we are just putting ourselves exactly where the enemy wants us; fractured and powerless. “
Interviewer: DREAMWELL has evolved from Modern Grotesque to In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You and now Hymns For The Denial Of God. How do you feel your identity as a band has changed over that journey?
KZ: “Beyond obviously being down a member, the only major change for us has been an increasing confidence. Not confidence that we are some exceptional band necessarily, but the confidence to just trust ourselves enough to believe that we know how to write what we want to write, and to sound how we want to sound. Not second guessing everything we do, asking “is this right for Dreamwell?” Just believing that it will make sense in the end, because we know who we are. “
Interviewer: What did you learn about yourselves as musicians while creating this album?
KZ: “Ultimately, to the point of a couple of the previous answers, I think we learned that songwriting goes best for us when we just get together and write music that is fun to play. Thinking about the bigger picture stuff too early and letting it define all of our decision making is something we tried before and it was exhausting. Having fun in the room and making sure it will be compelling live takes center stage for us, and all the other stuff comes after. “
Interviewer: You mentioned wanting to embrace more early-2000s mosh-driven influences. What drew you back to that heavier, more chaotic energy?
KZ: “We’ve always hinted at it throughout various parts of songs, so it’s always been bubbling beneath the surface, but we never really got to sit in that sound for too long. We wanted to finally embrace it. It’s also what Ryan and I were listening to a lot over that year, so it came naturally.“
Interviewer: You mentioned that writing about pain has always been a familiar creative space, but happiness felt more difficult to navigate. Why do you think suffering often becomes such a powerful source of art?
KZ: “I think pain and suffering are obviously really powerful and overwhelming feelings and they’re something that we want to be able to purge out of us somehow, and creating art often becomes the process by which we do that. I know that’s true for myself, at least. I was constantly miserable, and constantly writing to deal with it, and now I find that over the last 15 years of writing, I have developed a voice and a style that’s rooted in that misery.
The imagery I like to use, the way I craft lines, all that stuff was developed in a mental space of agony. So for me, it’s not even that suffering is a more powerful creative force than joy. It’s just that at this point, to write songs of joy would almost be like starting over and learning how to write from scratch.”
Interviewer: Has creating this album changed the way you view your own relationship with struggle and creativity?
KZ: “Not really, to be honest. I’m miserable again, so I’m ready for the next one.”
Interviewer: Do you think artists have a responsibility to confront uncomfortable topics, or is it more about personal expression?
KZ: “I think we all have a responsibility to speak out actively against things that are obviously wrong. Whether you do that in your art or you do that in your personal life is up to you, but you have to be doing it. As far as art goes, I have always valued honesty of expression above all else, and to that end, even if you’re only writing about your own personally struggles, it should still be uncomfortable, because that discomfort is where the honesty and vulnerability lies. Songs like “All Towers Drawn…” or “It Will Hurt…” were by no means easy or comfortable for me to write, but I think that’s what makes them work. “
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
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