DEAD CAN DANCE

Many of us progheads have a remembrance of DCD being some kind of Australian answer gothic post punk to Bauhaus and got associated with the so-called Cold Wave, especially once they'd relocated to London and became a duo, but this can apparently be applied only for their first album. Like many progheads, I heard of the group then, dispelled them as uninteresting and sort of forgot to check out their future records. I dare say, I'm not the only proghead having done so, as well.

But having recently reheard the debut album, graced with that bizarre semi-human semi-bird mask (seemingly of Maori or Melanesian origins), can say that at least, I wasn't wrong on my memories of post punk gothic, somewhere between Bauhaus, The Cure, a tad of Killing Joke as well (in their more industrial moments), and other early 80's new wave pop. So as I stand confirmed of my historical dislike of this album, one must recognize that they did their gothic rock rather well and could probably recommend this album as one of the top ten of its genre, but this is coming from a profane and uninitiated gothic relic. A relic whose list might just start with The Cult's debut album Love, BTW. Some of the quieter moments on this album have a certain kind of eerie beauty, especially with Lisa Gerard's voice (strangely under mixed as are most vocals on this album), but overall the 80's way of making music sweats out of every pore of this album, thus taking away a good part of its interest.

Please note that the Cd version of this album comes with their EP released later that year Garden Of The Arcane Delight, which globally sound very much like their debut album and therefore doesn't intrude on the original album. Of all DCD albums, this s/t one is the least likely to please the progheads, especially those that have a strong distaste for 80's new wave. Best avoided really!!