Thom Jurek of AllMusic noted that the album was nothing like Sun Baked Snow Cave, a previous collaboration between Boris and Merzbow.[1] Jurek noted that the music was not a "free-form improvisation and noise fest".[1]
Rock Dream was released on October 26, 2007, on the Japanese music label Diwphalanx Records.[2]
The American label Southern Lord released the album in 2008 on compact disc and vinyl.[3][4] The vinyl version includes the track "Dyno-Saur" that is not included on either version of CD releases.[3] The American version had packaging designed by Stephen O'Malley, with their printer stating that they "never ever make anything like this again as it was painfully time-consuming and took forever to get just right!"[3] This was a limited release with the label stating that there were "a little over 3800" manufactured in total.[3]
The Austin Chronicle discussed the album in their overview of Boris' career, declaring it "definitive live document, an impossibly dense double album that touches down on nearly every point of their career, from Dronevil to Smile's contorted stairway to heaven ("Flower Sun Rain"), with Merzbow's electronic manipulations stitching it all together like connective scar tissue."[5] In 2008, Raoul Hernandez of the Austin Chronicle placed Rock Dream on his list of top ten albums of 2007.[6]
In a retrospective review from Tiny Mix Tapes, declared Rock Dream to be "not just the best album Boris ever made, but also one of the finest live albums I’ve ever heard." and that "It’s incredible then that someone recorded Boris and Merzbow that night, because for two hours they got to be the best band on the planet."[7]
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