DEAD CAN DANCE

This is the debut album from Dead Can Dance. This however is not the trademark sound that they became known for, at least for the most part. As most reviewers have said already, the sound here leans towards a goth rock an amazing layered sound. Except for some interesting percussion on some of the tracks, instruments and voice are mixed so that no particular sound seems to stand out like what you hear in some of their later albums. However, nothing is really muddled here either. All sounds, instrumentation and vocals work together as a whole and this really doesn't change much throughout the album. It's hard to single out any tracks because of this. At first listen, it may be difficult to really hear any difference from one track to another. But if you listen close and concentrate on the music, you can hear clues of where their music was going to take them in later albums. There is some nice percussion in the first track, which is instrumental, and also in the 2nd track. The percussion in "The Fatal Impact" consisted of overturned paint cans. The bass line in "East of Eden" is also one of the stand out points in this album. "Musica Eternal" stands out for me in that there is no rhythm line at all and the song is mostly reliant totally on Lisa's lovely vocals and the background drone of Brenden's wordless vocalization. This song puts you in a different place than the rest of the album and also gives you a good insight into the other worldly beauty that would follow in their future albums. All in all, I don't expect anyone to consider this progressive rock except for the fact that it is somewhat experimental. However, there are no dynamic rhythm changes like your would hear in later endeavors and not a lot of variety. The production is not as good as what you hear in their later albums either, but this is their first official release, after all, and you can definitely hear the promise of what was to come. Listen to this closely, don't judge it based on your first listen either. Don't write it off as an unessential album either. Those who search this album will be rewarded.