WITHIN THE REALM OF A DYING SUN

By 87's Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun, DCD didn't sound anything alike the gothic post punk band they were. Of course DCD was to remain in the gothic spectrum, as this album is probably still considered a founding monument for many specialists. Of course the change didn't come abruptly and overnight, the previous year's Spleen & Ideals had already started hinting at the present changes, but it is with their third "opus" that the changes become plainly evident to all but this proghead, too busy elsewhere to notice. I must that the super-Gothic graveyard artwork did not help me to actually give it a chance.

Right from the descending synth bell chimes of the opening Anywhere Out Of This World, you know that the music has veered completely around, adopting most often a classical stance often aided by the use of many acoustic instruments. Indeed DCD is now more of an ambient gothic group. Both Windfall and Wake Of Adversity should sound a bit familiar to you (as it did to me, but had no idea who it was) and Dawn Of The Iconoclast has probably been heard all over the planet at the time on the airwaves.

Although a vast improvement on their early releases, WTROADS is also a fairly vacuous album. Indeed there are few hints of medieval and classical influences, but the album is by large a very ambient one, never raising the tempo or getting down to serious business. It has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that lacks. Bravado, intensity (or more like the lack of them) and virtuosity, are simply not key words in this release. Subtlety, finesse and reflectiveless, however are much more

While demanding progheads, looking for complex rhythm patterns of virtuoso solos, will probably not get satisfaction from such an ambient album, Dying Sun is still an album much worthy of a good listen, because it might surprise a few set-minded music fans. But hardly is it an essential album, in regards with this site's scope of interest.