INTO THE LABYRINTH

A big shift in sound heralds Dead Can Dance's sixth album. This one's far more ethnic without any mediaeval references whatsoever. It's always an admirable thing to hear bands change style, and Dead Can Dance did it more than most during their 12 years, but this doesn't cut the mustard.

Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry play all instruments with no guest musicians at all on 'Labyrinth', unlike previous albums. It's just all too serene and pretty for my liking, although I do still like Perry's vocals enormously. In a way, he sounds like Frank Sinatra!

'Labyrinth' alludes to Greek mythology where Theseus lays the string to find his way back after his encounter with the Minotaur. Strangely, Pete Murphy and Bauhaus on 'In the Flat Field' sang 'Where is the string that Theseus laid' which leads me to the question of the big fight that Perry and Murphy had last year. What on earth's going on with the vendetta between this pair? On the verge of touring together, everything fell apart amidst a sea of vitriol and hatred. How unlikely eh?

'Toward the Within' is excellent - this is where Theseus had to journey to 'the within' to encounter Mr Minotaur. Very middle Eastern sounding with excellent percussion and wind instruments.

The best track 'Emmeleia' is a beautiful choral piece by Perry and Gerrard which unfortunately only lasts two minutes. It's the one time they sound perfect singing in conjunction. Perfect...

On the whole, I'm far happier listening to Brendan Perry on this album. Gerrard's vocals make this a bit of a dreary listen. The power and emotion from '85's 'Spleen and Ideal' to 88's 'Serpent's Egg' has vanished, leaving us with a pretty enough album but seriously lacking in emotional content.