Dead Can Dance was formed in 1981 in Australia by the couple Lisa Gerrard - who has a beautiful voice, by the way, and sings many of the songs in a fictional, imaginary language, which gives the band a very special tone, as only the sound of the voice remains, without conveying any message beyond the music - and Brendan Perry (I particularly prefer Lisa singing...). Besides them, dozens of people have passed through the band. They have a very strong oriental, primitive, and spiritual influence in their music.

Their sound is defined as "ethnic fusion" and leans much more towards lounge than the dance floor, although the songs from the band's early career were somewhat dark, reminiscent of Cocteau Twins. They use various unconventional instruments, such as zithers, many of them being from Antiquity and "resurrected" by the band (The dead can dance, got it?...), and they also use electronic instruments, which in the overall context sound like mantras, without being boring. It's just very deep, very touching.

One of the coolest songs is 'Towards the Within', which is also the name of one of their albums, although this song belongs to the album Into the Labyrinth. Another fascinating track is 'Song of the Nile', from the album Spirit Chaser; dude, words just can't describe it, you know? All the words in the world wouldn't be enough to convey what this song expresses. 'Yulunga (Spirit Dance)', 'The Spider's Stratagem', and 'Ariadne' are also wonderful. Dead Can Dance also wrote the soundtrack for some films, such as Baraka (1992).

They unfortunately disbanded in 1993. (EDIT 2024: the band reunited in 2006 and has since been touring the world and releasing new albums). With the band separated, Lisa Gerrard embarked on a beautiful solo career, even writing the beautiful soundtrack for the film Gladiator, along with Hans Zimmer.

Nothing compares to Dead Can Dance; their sound is quite unique, they are definitely one of my favorite bands!

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(EDIT 2024: Watch the video below that was filmed and produced by me in May 2012 as a tribute to the band, with locations in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Como, Italy).