Dream Unending & Worm - Starpath [LP]

In both 2021 and 2022, Dream Unending and Worm releases closed out the year at 20 Buck Spin. For 2023, to complete the year-end trifecta, the two doomed titans now appear together on one towering release of cosmic duality, Starpath. With both bands dropping major works back to back in the previous two years, they became intrinsically linked in the imaginations of the fanbases. And while musically they almost couldn't be farther apart, the foundational points when exhumed of the Earth, have plenty in common. The latest tracks from Dream Unending, "So Many Chances" and "If Not Now When" further dissolve the goth / post-punk elements that existed within earlier output, continuing to build upon the spacious free-form drift of extended guitar passages, pensively heavy riffs and Justin DeTore's thunderous roar. Phil Swanson, who appeared as guest clean vocalist on Song Of Salvation, returns again here. These two extended pieces represent the most realized incarnation yet of where Derrick Vella and Justin DeTore are steering the ship. Worm, as they are now known for, continue to be an ever shape-shifting entity of pure virtuosic blackness. "Ravensblood" embraces vampyric black metal with icy keys and eerie cemetery melodies. The chillingly atmospheric "Midwinter Tears" invokes a snow covered gothic mood and side ender "Sea Of Sorrow" encapsulates the necromantic shred of lead guitarist Wroth Septentrion over Phantom Slaughter's idiosyncratic black doom and immortally haunted crypt invocations. Two bands, two unique approaches, a chasmic spectrum of light from radiant impassioned creation to the terminal abyssic darkness of oblivion. Dream Unending and Worm each present over twenty minutes of new music created specifically with the joint release of Starpath in mind.