Album: AionArtist: Dead Can Dance
Year: 1990
Genre : World Fusion / Medieval
Favorite Track: Saltarello
This album is definitely not for everyone, but damn it is good. It opens up with a track devoid of anything but a deep drum beats and layers of chanting voices. The following track ‘Saltarello’ is an instrumental number adapted from an Italian dance of the 14th century. It is an amazingly enchanting piece.
‘The Song of Sibyl’ is another adapted track, this time from 16th century Catalonia. Lisa Gerrard’s vocals in this track really set the mood and continue to showcase her wonderful affinity for this style of music. When listening to songs like ‘As the Bell Rings the Maypole Spins’ it is no surprise she was commissioned to compose music and lend her voice to the soundtrack of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000).
Unfortunately Brendan Perry’s vocals are just not up to par with Gerrard’s. Given this, it is actually surprising to find that the soft plucking strings above the deep organ notes of ‘Fortune Presents Gifts Not According To The Book’ are complimented by his voice. This is not so much the case in ‘Black Sun’ however, which is probably the album’s weakest point.
Overall Aion is one of Dead Can Dance’s best albums, and perhaps even my personal favorite. Like I said at the start, this album is definitely not for everyone, but if you haven’t heard anything by the group before I would highly suggest this album.
Rating: 4.5 of 5
When I was singing with Chanterai, I often remarked that if someone happened to be walking past our practice room, s/he'd think we were practicing contemporary compositions, not ancient music. It is astonishing how immediate, intriguing and just plain good early music can be.
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