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Rating: For a long time, I've been asking myself what the best album by Dead Can Dance is, without ever being able to give myself an answer. Each work is so unique and original that it's perhaps impossible to determine. Their first album is rarely mentioned in general, but it is one of my favorites. If it's not the best, it is certainly one of the most significant and the one I am most attached to, the manifesto of everything that will be the musical and life journey of this fascinating duo.
“Dead Can Dance” draws from the sounds of the era of groups like Joy Division or Cocteau Twins, evoking their atmospheres, but then unwinds with extreme freshness and originality.
It is with a distant and pressing voice that “The Fatal Impact” opens, reminiscent of that meeting of two souls that brought about so much beauty.
The alternation of tracks like “The Trial”, dark and introspective, made extremely fascinating by Perry, almost contrasts with the fresh speed of “Frontier” where Gerrard showcases her full vocal power.
It's as if a continuous play of light and shadow comes to life and unfolds throughout the length of the album, never leaving a moment of pause. In the end, the frantic rhythm is only slowed down and at times rises when Gerrard's vocal experiments echo at their full splendor, as in "Ocean", for example.
The use of instruments anticipates what will be the meticulous search for new sounds, already fueling the tension towards sounds from distant countries like Africa or the East, skillfully blended with electronics, giving life to what will fully represent the originality of all their musical production.
Full, essential, and fundamental for anyone who wants to delve, perhaps in retrospect, into the journey of these two so antithetical and inseparable personalities.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 The Trial (03:43)
All my senses rebel
Under the scrutiny of their persistent gaze.
It took a lifetime to get here,
A journey I'll never make again.
For those who have accepted the burden of shame,
For the innocent only guilt will remain
And our lives will be forced to accommodate
The perpetrators of our own bastard race.
All my senses rebel
Under the scrutiny of their persistent gaze.
It took a lifetime to get here,
A journey I'll never make again.
I stand accused of thousand and one crimes,
A witness to events that led to this present time.
These traditions which bind our hands and keep us tied
Will never survive the greatest test of time.
Deliver me from those feverish eyes
That threaten to unbalance ny state of mind,
For I must confess only to the smallest of crimes.
A sense of guilt.
03 Frontier (03:13)
Please go after him
'Cause he delayed them there
I see the proud man
He delayed to see them all
All have stayed
The bloodstains on the floor
He left, he left
He's gone today
He's gone back
He's gone back
I just want to make him understand
Teach another lesson
Make them go and see the proud man
12 In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated (04:11)
Sail on silver wings
through this storm
What fortune love may bring
Back to my arms again
The love of a former golden age.
I am disabled by fears concerning which course to take.
For, now that wheels are turning,
I find my faith deserting me...
This night is filled with cries of
Dispossesed children in search of Paradise.
A sign of unresolve that,
Envisioned, drives the pinwheel on-and-on.
I am disabled by fears concerning which course to take.
When memory bears witness to
The innocence, consumed in dying rage!
The way lies through our love;
There can be no other means to the end,
Or keys to my heart...
You will never find.
You will never find!
13 The Arcane (03:49)
Here in the garden of the arcane delights,
Dark shadows overwhelm us and we become blind.
Blind to the needs of those who would be free
From the grip of fear and the prisons of the mind.
Amidst the throes of perplexity
Phobia moves amongst us, in her hand is held the seed.
Extermination angel stood beside the road
In violent retribution for the seeds we have sown
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By alaindelon
Eternal words for music without beginning or end, horribly dark yet also sweet and sincere.
The best of the entire album is the very sweet and heartbreaking love song, 'In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated.'
