Born from the Thrash-Metal epicenter of the San Francisco Bay Area comes WILDERNESS DREAM, a brand-new four-piece heavy metal unit of destruction combining the speed and fury of 80’s thrash and 90’s death metal, with the melodic leanings and no-frills DIY aesthetic of modern day punk. Though boasting this unique amalgamation of influences, it comes as no surprise that the band would dawn both the melody-infused underpinnings and unrelenting intensity of the members’ current and past projects.

WILDERNESS DREAM consists of current HEARTSOUNDS frontman Ben Murray on Guitar/Vocals, who also played drums in the now defunct Bay Area Melodic Death Metal act, LIGHT THIS CITY (Prosthetic Records, 2002-2008). HEARTSOUNDS drummer Trey Derbes also provides the ripping percussive soundtrack to WILDERNESS DREAM’s debut Self-Titled 12″ EP, offering a natural, live, and completely unedited approach to the drum production – While Murray and Derbes began writing what would become WILDERNESS DREAM’s debut release throughout the past few years, the band didn’t become an entity of it’s own until Ryan Hansen entered the fold on second guitar and vocals, followed by Bret Fontaine joining in on bass guitar. Ryan Hansen and Ben Murray share a musical history as well, as Hansen played lead guitar in LIGHT THIS CITY, which contributes to the cohesive musical vision and camaraderie of what has now become WILDERNESS DREAM.

Clocking in at just under 15 minutes, the 6 songs that comprise the band’s debut release reflect a sonic-musical attack reminiscent of thrash legends in SACRIFICE and TESTAMENT, with a violent and unrestrained vocal approach. Lyrically, Murray adopts a more stripped down and bleak approach to his death-obsessed, anxiety-ridden regurgitation of his experience, moving through an overpopulated, immoral, and devastatingly distracted human-landscape. The band explores their own interpretation of the futility and uncertainty of life, while never negating our all-encompassing, ever-growing and universal fear of the end.