Into the Labyrinth (CD)

INTO THE LABYRINTH is either the sixth or seventh Dead Can Dance album, depending upon whether you could the live one or not. It also marks a step back from that live album--there are no flirtations with traditional pop song structures as in tracks like "American Dreaming" and "Don't Fade Away." Instead, DCD has further widened its palate to include more tribal and spiritual pieces (see "Saldek" and "Toward the Within"). The album also contains covers of two relatively recent songs (considering that the band usually favors the 14th and 16th centuries), "The Wind That Shakes the Barley," an Irish protest song written in the mid-1800s and "How Fortunate the Man With None," which was adapted from a piece by 20th-century playwright Bertold Brecht. Standouts from this collection include Lisa Gerrard's majestic vocal turn on "Yulunga (Spirit Dance)," the lush music of "Tell Me About the Forest (You Called Home)," and "The Spider's Stratagem," an oddly lullaby-like track featuring bongos and Lisa Gerrard's voice at its most soothing. INTO THE LABYRINTH is a much more sedate record than Dead Can Dance's previous ones; a record perfectly suited to long, dark afternoons.