Right now, the members of the adventurous Toronto death metal crew Tomb Mold are really stretching their creative legs. Two Tomb Mold members are also members of Daydream Plus, the instrumental space-prog emo group who released the album Second Last Day of Summer a few months ago. (The chiptune version dropped last week.) Now, guitarist Derrick Vella, one of the Tomb Mold members who isn't in Daydream Plus, is coming back with another album from his duo Dream Unending, who combine guttural death-doom with noodley '80s studio-rock in fascinating ways.
Dream Unending is the duo of Derrick Vella and Justin DeTore, the veteran metal and hardcore drummer who has also spent time in bands like Mental, Mind Eraser, Innumerable Forms, and Sumerlands. (DeTore didn't rejoin the Rival Mob, his old Boston hardcore band, when they reunited to headline Sound And Fury this year.) Dream Unending released their deep, entrancing sophomore album Song Of Salvation in 2022, and they followed it by teaming up with Worm for the 2023 split Starpath. Next month, they're coming back with a new LP called Certain Uncertainties that promises to steer even further into their signature sound.
Justin DeTore's Rival Mob/Mind Eraser/Sumerlands bandmate Brendan Radigan has vocals on one track, while Derrick Vella's father Dave plays keys on another. Multi-instrumentalist Benny Grotto and trumpter Leila Abdul-Rauf also make contributions. The Bandcamp description suggests that we file Certain Uncertainties under the previously undiscovered "Adult Contemporary Doom" genre, but that makes me think of late-period Elder or Pallbearer, not this. On "Strained Sincerity," the album's seven-minute lead single, Dream Unending combine abrasive, echo-drenched gargle-thunder with spacious ornamental delicacy in ways that somehow serve both impulses. Check it out below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Blinding Allure"
02 "Certain Uncertainties"
03 "Strained Sincerity"
04 "Rubato"
05 "I Carry Your Burden"
06 "Causal"
Certain Uncertainties is out 10/30 on 20 Buck Spin.
