Dream Unending announce new album 'Song of Salvation,' share "Secret Grief"

September 9, 2022

Dream Unending — the collaborative project of Derrick Vella (Tomb Mold) and Justin DeTore (Innumerable Forms, Sumerlands) — released one of our favorite metal albums of 2021 with their debut album Tide Turns Eternal, and spilled the beans shortly after that they already had a sophomore album due in fall of 2022, and today that album has been announced. It’s called Song of Salvation and it drops November 11 via 20 Buck Spin. First single “Secret Grief” features guest vocals from former Sumerlands singer Phil Swanson and trumpet from Leila Abdul-Rauf (of Hammers of Misfortune, Vastum, and a bunch of other projects). Derrick says:

“Secret Grief” feels like the most direct song on the album. It’s still got this otherworldly feel, or slightly out of a different time. Its got this hotel bar ballad feel, very plaintive. Phil really came through with his vocal offering, almost a wail at times. Leila’s trumpet is like a siren, it came out greater than I could have ever imagined. It’s a real pleasure to know such talented people that would be happy to place a role on this. Love the King’s X vibe on the riff before the solo comes in. Justin’s drumming is so strong, lots of conviction.

It starts out as an airy, atmospheric art rock song and doesn’t even touch on metal at all until switching to bone-crushing death-doom about halfway through, and that guitar solo really does wail. It feels like a clear evolution from Dream Unending’s already-great debut, and an even stronger nailing of the heavy/beautiful divide that should appeal to metalheads and non-metalheads alike. Check it out below.

Other guests on the album include David Vella on piano and synth, Tomb Mold’s Max Klebanoff, McKenna Rae (Revelry, Solborn), and actor Richard Poe. It was mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk.

Innumerable Forms and Sumerlands also both have new albums arriving next week, Philosophical Collapse (Profound Lore), and Dreamkiller (Relapse), respectively. We’ve got an exclusive gold vinyl variant of the Sumerlands album up for pre-order now.