My favorite from DCD.
My introduction to DCD was Spirit Chaser.
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!!!

timeless
i first heard this album in 1988. i was 16 and i had never heard anything like it... This is DCD at their unique best. Its also one of the most coherent and focused of their albums, almost a summing up of the previous 2 albums and EP. The darkness of those earlier recordings focused to produce a stunning virtuoso work... 20 years later i still havnt heard anything to equal it.

Dark, intense, inaccessible - but if you get it, you'll be rewarded
Although I have owned Spleen and Ideal for several years, I had never listened to it and certainly pretended I liked it more than I really did. When I first bought "Within The Realm of a Dying Sun" (luckily, just before it went out of print!) I did not play it and feared it was soft "new age". The truth, though, is: it could not be further from that.

On Spleen and Ideal Dead Can Dance developed a sound that, though often thought of as folk, actually is more like playing a Parliament vinyl record at 7rpm. Here, though, they take it a step further so that the beats, which like Liz Fraser's voice in the Cocteau Twins, are hard to hear without good, high-resolution headphones.

The stunning opener "Anywhere Out Of This World" sets the tone perfectly. Soft, funky beats over a big voice, a cross between folk and soul, create something so dark, deep and passionate as to be utterly compelling even if the lyrics remain totally mysterious. "Windfall" is much slighter even with the tinkling piano that makes it dreamy as well as quiet, but the power of Perry's voice elevates "In The Wake of Adversity" far above most songs of this type. This is not spontaneous emotion like one finds on metal or punk, this is feelings hidden too deep in the heart for most to want to listen.

"Xavier" is in the vein of "Anywhere Out of This World", yet even manages to surpass it. The quiet yet intense piano line conveys more words than most lyrics ever could, and Perry's voice has the force of a wall of sound. The (audible) line "deep in the heart where the mysteries emerge" sums up the whole purpose of "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun" and Perry's philosophical ruminations are better than anything by Jane Siberry or Judee Sill.

The second side opens with "Dawn of the Iconoclast", with Lisa Gerrard's passionate voice taking over to superb effect. On "Cantara" a hypnotic single-note intro for over a minute gives way to one of the most purely piercing vocals you will ever hear and an ecstatic crescendo rivals anything. "Summoning of the Muse" shows Lisa chanting in an almost guttural fashion, whilst closer "Persephone (The Gathering of Flowers)" is even quieter than the rest of the album but still has remarkable dynamics.

"Within the Realm of a Dying Sun" is a really dark and intense record that will prevent you from relaxing when you hear it. The vocals and rhythms are virtually soul music distorted via a slow and soft pace that stood in serious and total opposition to the "hard and fast" trend of the era's "underground", but managed to convey much deeper, harder-to-express feelings. Dead Can Dance are definitely an extreme acquired taste, but their music rewards the patient like no other.

The fact that nobody has come close to emulating "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun"'s character actually make it stand out even more.

Listening to it now.
I'm listening to it now. How many times I've heard this, I've lost count. Cantara is playing right now. Lisa Gerard's flowing voice just carried the band through two half step minor chords. It's incredibly beautiful.

As I'm listening, I'm buying a few copies for chritmas presents for a few friends who don't own this one. (no, I wouldn't go so low as to burn a DCD CD for a present.)

No words
No point in trying to describe this album, it sounds like nothing else.
Pure dark beauty.