This was my second purchase and still my favorite.
I was expecting more of the tribal sound from Spirit, what I got was a HUGE surprise.
More goth, without any tribal influence whatsoever.
I hate to say this but it reminds me a lot of metal.
Granted, there are no guitars and DCD have a female vocalist but the overall intensity is the same.
Intense, brutal, dark and beautiful.
My favorite song is easily Dawn of the Iconoclast.
The horns, the minimal music with Gerard's piercing voice....amazing!!!
Not a weak track anywhere on the disc.
The opening song is another keeper as is Persephone.
If you're new to DCD there is NO better place to start than with this masterpiece.
Listen to it with an open mind, you might find yourself liking it.
I highly recommend this one to metal fans that are looking to expand their horizons.
I also recommend this one to New Age fans, (Enya, Yanni, etc...).
DCD were in a league of their own right up till the time they split.
Within the Realm of a Dying Sun........ESSENTIAL!!!
"
Life-changing
Elyse Reardon | Austin, Texas | 09/07/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This recording has literally been my lifesaver countless times. If I ever lose faith in myself and/or humanity, this music reminds me of the divinity that can exist within humankind -- within the cherished, extraordinarily brilliant artists. Music is my truest love, and Lisa and Brendan have made so much breathtaking art of it!
This *is* my favorite album (yes, I'm old enough to own the vinyl), and I couldn't be happier that they have had it remastered. I have been tempted to buy this for all my loved ones, in hopes that it would move them as it has moved me. I recommend it (as highly as I can) for any music lover."
Among the best
Gary Hussey | Brantford, Ontario Canada | 12/09/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Rarely do I take the time to actually sit down and write a review but once in a great while along comes an album so overpoweringly moving that it seems almost the only fair response one can give.
This album is easily among the most inspired works of art I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. I've had a broad range of experience musically, I've played stringed instruments for well over a decade, studied the techniques of greats such as Paganini and Beethoven and these two artists hit every note right on this album. This, along with their masterpiece "Into the Labyrinth" successfully pull off what very few people can manage in this day and age, in truth they almost embody the punk "DIY" mindset.
If you can create a sound with ancient instruments in a windy castle, great, it'll sound brilliant. Can't do that? Use a modern mixing board to layer dream scape sound over dream scape sound to create something transcendent. Still having trouble? Add a synthesizer to create the crystallization only found within digital media. What Dead Can Dance recognizes that so many bands forget is that this music is theirs. I think it was Perry who once said "we make medicine for ourselves, if it can heal others all the better", they aren't bogged down by silly notions of traditionalism or progressive styling, though they fit into both with an ease almost frightening.
If I were asked to make a list of the top 5 most artistically relevant musical achievements of all time, this album would be in that list. It is truly one of those rare masterpieces most of us only have the opportunity to hear about, well here it is folks, pure, unfettered, almost tangible and palpable art. Love it or hate it, you have to respect it or I question you're basic understanding of what constitutes music."
Soundtrack to my farewell
Deven Gadula | san francisco, ca, united states | 10/14/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Within The Realm Of The Dying Sun is to me the most extraordinary album of Dead Can Dance. It was created in 1987 following by 2 years their excellent second album, Spleen And Ideal. All of their albums were great and whenever they decided they had nothing more significant to say together any more, they had parted their ways. I have to say honestly that at that point or any moment prior to it I had no idea how the balance of force of creation looked on the inside but from where I am standing today in 2009 I will only say that Lisa Gerard is a musical genius. Both, Whalerider and The Insider prove it. Coming back to Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun, it would make a great soundtrack to a movie about us at a funeral (Anywhere Out Of This World starts playing as our movie starts). We are all standing there, one by one coming over to a casket dropped into the ground to throw our handful of soil over it so the story can be shortly over. All of the sudden the most amazing cloud of light starts appearing out of nowhere directly over our heads and it is intensifying it's glow to the point that it shines brighter and much lighter than the sun. We realize that we are looking directly at it and are not blinded by it at all (In The Wake Of Adversity starts playing now). And we are looking at one another, no, not with shock nor fear nor doubt, but with the infectious love, with total unconditional love, because this is exactly what radiates towards us out of this amazing light we now see (as we start hearing Xavier). All of the sudden standing there in the midst of some incredible super-consciousness we realize that we all have seen this light and felt this love before, we know it, many times over the ages. Was it in our earthly lives or in between, during days or in our sleep? Search and you will find, ask and it will be given....Are these the laws of this supernatural state we are in now? These seconds seem to last forever and now we remember seeing angels surrounding us on earth reflecting similar but much dimmer light around us so often centuries ago. Is that why we had painted and sculpted so many of them over our history, because they were one of the realities of our distant lives? Why have we lost connection with the spiritual side of our world? This question is replacing the great disappearing brightness joined by a dim tiny light form of our deceased (Cantara is playing now). And now we realize that we are not watching any movie at all but we are still overpowered by the spirituality of Dead Can Dance and their music and at least I know for sure what music would be the most appropriate soundtrack to my farewell... No, I am not a big fan of cemeteries... Please let the wind spread my ashes under golden gate bridge...as you lay down your sails...And...go ahead and play the 2 last songs i have not mentioned yet, Summoning Of The Muse and Persephone.