Dream Unending
The 30 Best Albums of 2021
Back in June, SPIN published The 30 Best Albums of 2021 (So Far), rounding up everything from mainstream rock to experimental hip-hop. Six months later, we’re back with our year-end recap — and it’s interesting how, even though the stylistic balance has stayed consistent, the picks themselves haven’t. While this list also covers a lot of ground, only six of those earlier records wound up in our final tally. Below, you’ll find massive R&B collaborations (Silk Sonic), trendy pop breakouts (Olivia Rodrigo), big-ticket indie-rock (The War on Drugs), prog-metal giants (Mastodon), and acclaimed indie-rap (Benny the Butcher & Harry Fraud). Looking back at Pandemic Year Number Two, when the music industry forecast seemed to shift on a daily basis, perhaps these changes are only fittin...
Dream Unending Build Their Own Worlds Through Gorgeous Doom Metal
When I first heard about Dream Unending, I did the Vince McMahon meme in real time, excitement scaling too far past healthy or sustainable. Tomb Mold’s Derrick Vela teaming up with prolific bruiser Justin DeTore (of Innumerable Forms, Sumerlands, Magic Circle, Mind Eraser, numerous other killer bands) to take on the Peaceville Three sound? The audacity and the ecstasy! The Peaceville Three – My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Paradise Lost – were goth metal innovators in the early and mid-’90s, shrouding doom metal in funereal violins, maudlin synths fallen from new age’s unblemished heavens, and many Rimbaud and Bryon marathons at 3 AM. Their beauty is like a pristine object cracked by time and misery, where godliness shows mortality. Even as goth metal became its own flourishing subgenre, no ...
