Album Review: The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – Dreams of Being Dust
Intro / Summary
This review is a summary from our podcast transcript. For the full conversation, you should check out the episode linked below.
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, or “The World Is” for short, came roaring back this year with Dreams of Being Dust. This band emerged in the 2010s emo revival scene, drawing on post-rock atmospherics and expansive, experimental songwriting. Over time, they’ve evolved into something heavier and more urgent. Dreams of Being Dust is a striking, sometimes caustic record that feels like both a reinvention and a natural continuation of where they’ve been headed. For a band so many years into their career, it’s impressive to hear them sounding this vital and this fearless.
Andrew’s Take
From the first listen, I felt the same way about this album as I did with The Armed’s latest. It’s a raw commentary on modern existence. You can feel the urgency in every lyric, every scream, every sung line. The Pitchfork review claimed it lacked emotional depth, but I couldn’t disagree more. To me, this thing drips with urgency. It’s not just the guest vocalists screaming. Primary singers Katie Dvorak and David Bello’s clean parts cut through with cutting beauty.
Dreams of being Dust is not just about aggression. “Oubliétte” and the closer “For Those Who Will Outlive Us” prove they can still stretch into gorgeous post-rock soundscapes. I love that this band doesn’t play tourist in heavier genres. They dive in fully and make it their own. This record will be high on my year-end list.
Craig’s Take
I’ve been a fan since Illusory Walls, which was a big entry point for me. That album had such polish and ambition, and it felt like a band finding a new gear. Dreams of Being Dust picks up that thread but leans way heavier. When Katie screams on “Beware the Centrists,” it floored me. I don’t think she’d ever screamed on record before. That kind of risk makes this feel like true art, not just a band cranking out another album.
The sequencing is brilliant. “Beware the Centrists” is straight-up hardcore, the heaviest I’ve ever heard from them, and it flows right into “Oubliétte,” which is stunningly beautiful. That transition might be my favorite moment on the album. I love “Oubliétte” for its Beatles-like pacing, and “Auguries of Guilt” might secretly be my favorite, because it feels like a callback to Illusory Walls. I’ll admit I stumbled a bit on “December 4th, 2024,” not because it’s a bad song but because the title references the murder of the UnitedHealth CEO. I don’t think the band glorifies murder, but it’s provocative enough that it made me pause. Still, in context, it fits with the album’s willingness to stare at uncomfortable truths. Overall, I think this is their Foxing moment. Dreams is a bold reinvention that could alienate some fans but makes the band more themselves than ever. I love it.