Customer Reviews

Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

WITHIN THE REALM OF A DYING SUN was the third LP by Dead Can Dance, the duo of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, released in 1987. In it, they go further with the classical structures explored in 1986's SPLEEN AND IDEAL and in doing so forged what may be their best album.

It's remarkable that Perry and Gerrard wrote the music for this album after simply picking up a couple of books on scoring. This is an album that, after the somber introductory tracks by Perry, moves into clashing cymbals, thundering timpanis, and exploding brass. The musicians who accompany Perry and Gerrard are extremely skilled, and Peter Ulrich, percussionist, adds a great deal of talent to the album. And of course, there are the voices. Brendan Perry's voice is among the most profound and sagely of modern music. And Lisa Gerrard, as anyone who has heard her sing, has the voice of a goddess.

Other reviewers, much to my chagrin, have thought of this as a "goth" album. Although the album is indeed dark, Perry and Gerrard have always denied attempting to present a gothic image. This is a somber album because Perry further explains his world-view, and because Gerrard's tracks move the spirit in a way that is too sacred to make light of.

Some have criticized this album's layout, saying that it is a mistake to divide the album into a first half of Perry's philisophically pensive songs and a second half of Gerrard's choral pieces. Nonetheless, part of what makes Dead Can Dance's work interesting is the duality between the two musicians, and making the album bipolar merely highlights the differences between their styles.

Every track on this album is excellent, and this was the first album I ever bought where I can't complain about even a single song. WTRDS is probably the best place to begin listening to Dead Can Dance.

Although I don't consider this to be my favorite album ever (that title goes to Nine Inch Nails' "The Fragile"), Dead Can Dance touch upon a dark beauty that even that CD doesn't quite reach up to. This is Dead Can Dance's darkest album, no question about that; where Gothic music (in the sense of the Victorian era) meets Arcane. "Anywhere Out Of The World" starts off with dark piano notes that bleed into Brendan Perry's beautiful voice. The song perfectly sets the mood for "Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun," with it's Gothic piano notes and and somber mood (not to mention Brendan Perry's magnificent vocals and lyrics). "Windfall" is a beautiful instrumental that lives up to it's name quite well. The song is absolutely stunning, the way the violins weave in and out sends chills up and down my spine. "In The Wake Of Adversity" is like it's predecessor, only with vocals and a more Arcane feel. Very nice. At this point in the disk, I realized that, while the songs were perfect, they've been lacking an important part of Dead Can Dance: Lisa Gerrard! She does, however, make her entrance on this disk with "Xavier." Lisa does the intro and Brendan takes over from there on. The song, just like all the other ones here, is perfect. A great song, and a chilling outro. It's the only song on "Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun" that the two team up vocally. Lisa finally gets the spotlight with "Dawn Of The Iconoclast." The horns (or trumpets, whatever they're called, I'm bad at naming instruments) and drums lead and then give way to Lisa's voice. The song is short, a little more somber, darker, and softer as well. It ends beautifully, with violins that leave a haunted feeling. Absolutely exquisite. "Cantara" is probably the most Arcane of all these songs. The guitar in the beginning is beautiful, as well as the piano. Then the song lets loose with everything moving the tempo up and Lisa's eloquent vocals. I originally bought this CD for this song, turns out it was my least favorite here. The last two songs are of something from another realm, they are the best songs here (easily). "Summoning Of The Muse" showcases Lisa's best vocal work here. This song is just touching, it's very mournful, and her voice is so good I want to cry. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - forget Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin, Lisa Gerrard has the single greatest voice ever. Her vocal display in these last two songs just aren't mortal. "Peresphone (The Gathering Of Flowers)" is the best way to close this CD. Again, very mournful and sad, in fact, this is probably the most depressing song here. The song is such a journey going through different changes, but without changing too much. I'm frustrated at not being able to describe the song in the right words. Just listen to it; I guess that's all I can say. "Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun" is flawless and absolutely perfect, I listen to it all the way through when playing it. It makes the entire Projekt label look like a bunch of shoegazing high schoolers. I cannot express my love for this CD enough; no words can do the justice this album so rightfully deserves. It deserves to be heard by music lovers everywhere.

I must confess that I was quite late in becoming familiar with Dead Can Dance, and missed their glory days by a longshot. Considering that I was listening to a number of their stylistic contemporaries, I'm not sure how I missed out for so long. It's very unfortunate that Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry are no longer making music together, but the material that they did create easily stands among the finest and deepest in the past couple decades. To me, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun represents their first true (and arguably purest) masterpiece. Everything they made from Spleen and Ideal onwards was unique and rich both in melody and content, but this particular album sends shudders down my spine like few others can. Although this is far from being a bright and pretty work, the growth between it and their rather unexceptional, Goth-style debut in 1984 is really quite an extraordinary shift.

The arrangement of the songs is a bit peculiar from the very first listen; this is the only album in which Brendan and Lisa evenly split the vocal/songwriting responsibilities, and - in particular - each respectively get one half of the album. As awkward and unnatural as it may sound, it works perfectly, with the two halves complementing each other like they were meant to fall in that order. Still, there is a heavy medieval and Gothic tinge to the songs, intensifying more and more as the album progresses. The atmosphere is only charged further by the addition of strings, tympani and horns, which accent the music beautifully. Brendan's songs are dark, but not quite depressing, with lyrics focusing more on a spiritual and philosophical plane than a dreary and nihilistic one. Each song of his seems to be part of a gradual crescendo, slowly becoming more urgent and intense. It all comes to a head on "Dawn of the Iconoclast," a downright unsettling piece that heralds Lisa's entrance as the primary vocalist. The tension loosens a bit with the beginning of "Cantara," but thunders up again after a minute into the song, continuing until the chimes and orchestra of "Summoning of the Muse" take its place. The grand finale is "Persephone," which begins with Lisa's incredibly rich lower register, moving into a stirring string section that then segues into a thoroughly beautiful vocal performance. Her singing becomes increasingly powerful, building the song up more and more before finally letting it collapse down into a bittersweet and disquieted ending.

Within the Realm of a Dying Sun is probably not the easiest introduction to Dead Can Dance's work (try Aion or Into the Labyrinth), but it is likely one of the most rewarding after repeated listens. The subsequent effort, The Serpent's Egg, begins a steady shift away from their heavier and darker work, so in a way this release marks the final climax of their early period. It is without a doubt one of their finest moments, however, and should not be neglected in any fan's collection.

Once every decade or so a band releases an album that's just blows everything else away. "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun" is defiantly one of those albums. Dead Can Dance are the duo of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard. Together they have created some of the best music ever, and this is their crowning achievement.

"Within the Realm of the Dying Sun" is beautifully flowing masterful mix of Goth, world and classical music. The album is carried by the elegance of Brendan's thought provoking voice and Lisa, who has the most powerful voice in all of music. Although you won't understand a word she says (she speaks in ancient languages for the most part) her voice will touch you in a profound way. Behind them are beautiful brass and string sections as well as an assortment of old sounding instruments (most of which are authentic) played by Lisa and Brendan. The music has an atmosphere to it that is one of a kind. It goes beyond the music, it's a deep and spiritual fulfillment. Another great thing about this album is Brendan's lyrics. Dark, melancholic, philosophical and depressing without being the least bit contrived (like a lot of the typical "I hate myself and I wanna die" bands in the Goth scene).

The first song is "Anywhere of This World". The haunting piano pulls you in and then the strings and horns come in. Beautifully depressing and haunting music, and great vocals by Brendan. Then comes instrumental "Windfall". The song walks along slowly like a serpent sliding through the water. Behind the strings and pianos you can quietly hear drums softly being played in the background. This is the ultimate atmospheric instrumental. "In the Wake of Adversity" is another one sang by Brendan. I love the plucked strings, like rain slowly falling down on to your head. "Xavier" is the last Brendan led song. It starts out with a great female vocal part (I'm not sure if its Lisa or not) and then the epic song begins. More great singing and real good piano on this one. Then comes one of the most powerful songs I've heard... "Dawn of the Iconoclast" starts with powerful horns and drums, and finally ends with the violins peaking. Lisa's voice will send a chill down your spine. "Cantara" is very Arabian influenced. After a long intro, rhythmic beats come in making it the most lively song on the album. "Summoning of the Muse" is probably my favorite song on here. The music is so tragic. The name gives you the felling of the muse being forced to perform, so very tragic. "Persephone" is another depressing one. As always Lisa's vocals are out of this world. The song gives the feeling of a loved one dying. I like the flute part too.

There you have it, one of the best albums ever. Let me make this clear not only are there no bad songs, there are no songs that aren't great. Anyone who likes classical, world, Goth or progressive MUST add this album to their collection. Also check out the other DCD albums, I have three others and although they're not as amazing as this one they're really worth having. Oh, another thing, check out the amazing album cover. It fits in with the musically perfectly.

Dead Can Dance's third album is arguably their masterpiece. Even though they continued to explore some of this album's sonic elements in future recordings, they never quite equaled the consistent excitement and richness featured here. Clocking in at a terse 39 minutes, the album delivers a complex and thematically integrated aural tapestry that stands up favorably in comparison to many classic works of orchestra and opera.

Having said all this, if you are a fan of their later work, when they incorporated more world music, drumming, and acoustic pop styles, you may possibly find this album not to your taste. It can be slow to grab the listener - the pace is generally deliberate and stately, and it took repeated listenings on my part to really appreciate the genius of the work.

Comprised of the duo of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, Dead Can Dance on this album took the approach of dividing it evenly between the two principals, with the first four tracks featuring Brendan, and the final four showcasing Lisa. By this time in their career, DCD had completely abandoned the 80s new wave roots evident in their two previous albums, in favor of a sound much closer to opera or chamber music than to mainstream pop. The overall tone is archaic and ominous, with sepulchral backing choruses, chilling Bulgarian-style wailing vocals from Lisa, chiming bells, moody strings, and dreamy, soaring vocals from Brendan.

Brendan's opener Anywhere Out of This World echoes and surpasses the mood of Enigma of the Absolute from their previous album, building to a shimmering climax. This then shifts to the dark and hypnotic instrumental Windfall, one of the best tracks on the album, followed by what is arguably the weakest track, In The Wake of Adversity, which establishes a brooding mood but never really goes anywhere with it. Brendan achieves his pinnacle on his final track, Xavier, a mythic tale of tragedy delivered over a deep soundscape of keyboards and climaxing in soaring romantic strings.

If Brendan's first half of the album is inspiring, Lisa's second half is dazzling. Her ethereal vocals were made for this kind of orchestral arrangement, and she displays a remarkable range on these four tracks, from spine-chilling operatic declamation on Dawn of the Iconoclast, to wailing middle eastern diva on Cantara, to angelic multi-tracked chorus on Summoning of the Muse, and finally to the amazing showcase of Persephone, which finds her running the gamut from gutteral alto to sweet soprano.

Those who like the sound of this album may want to check out Lisa's later solo work, The Mirror Pool, which also uses some orchestral arrangements, as well as her amazing collaboration with Irish classical composer Patrick Cassidy, Immortal Memory.

If you like DCD this cd is in my opinion one of their best..Completely amazing...I can never get tired of listening to it..It's wonderfully haunting.."Xavier", "Dawn of the Icnoclast", "Cantara" and "Summoning of the Muse" can be listened to over and over..the entire cd can be listened to numerous times without ever getting tiring..but those songs are among my favorites... All the songs on "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun" are very powerful songs ones that you can feel within your entire body..wether you listen to it during the day or the night it will take you on a journey into a realm of haunting music..Just incredible to listen to...A must have cd..and Lisa Gerrard is amazing, her voice is like no other female vocalist alive..I Love this cd..if you are a DCD fan, get it..if you have not heard many of their cd's get this one..if you just learned about DCD from a friend or stumbled upon them.. get this cd..it's a must have...If you don't believe me then see for yourself..buy it and see..

This album has to be THE most dramatic, romantic, gothic(not goth) piece of work i have ever heard. It's so beautifully over-the-top and strong in composition. "Anywhere Out Of The World" is a gloomy and decadant starter with eerie melodic belltones, dark and forboding strings, a pulsing synth bass and, best of all, Brendan's woeful croon. I think Lisa's best moment is during "Summoning The Muse", an engulfing piece with a chorus of angels mourning the loss of everything young and beautiful, causing the sky to just rain down in perfect misery. The whole album is solid, each song keeping a perfect place with in the album, nothing too dull or underworked. This record is a MUST for the passionate, brooding sort.

I was introduced to Dead Can Dance by buying the soundtrack to the film/documentary Baraka. When I heard the song "The Host of Seraphim", I was truly enthralled by this beautiful, awe-inspiring piece. So I decided that I wanted to hear other songs from this group,even though I was a bit skeptical: suppose Host of Seraphim was the only good song they did? I answered my own question when I bought "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun".

Needless to say, this whole CD is absolutely wonderful! Brenden Perry's and Lisa Gerrard's voices are truly beautiful. My favorite songs are Anywhere Out of the World(very melancholy music but nonetheless a gorgeous piece with Brenden Perry's somber voice), Cantara(an Indian-techno piece), and Dawn of the Iconoclast (the trumpets and drums reminds me of the imagery of the judgement day when all men are reckoned before God); but all the songs are equally divine.

Is this considered Gothic music? Maybe....but it can be enjoyed by anyone despite their taste of music. Absolutely no heavy metal on this piece....most of the CD is really melancholy pieces, but not sooo somber that you get depressed. Beautiful music indeed.

Worth the money!!!!

:-)

This release by Dead Can Dance, from the late 80s, is perhaps the pinnacle of their more classically-oriented period, before they started to work more extentively with the sounds and atmospheres of medieval and other early musics. Everything here is darkly evocative, lush, and supremely beautiful, with a tragic overtone that rings throughout the whole of the release. Especially beautiful is "Summoning the Muse", which sounds like some missing Carl Orff work of ominous portent. This, and also "Aion", are excellent introductions to DCD's work.

I'm listening to it now. How many times I've heard this, I've lost count. Cantara is playing right now. Lisa Gerard's flowing voice just carried the band through two half step minor chords. It's incredibly beautiful.

As I'm listening, I'm buying a few copies for chritmas presents for a few friends who don't own this one. (no, I wouldn't go so low as to burn a DCD CD for a present.)