Product Description

Their fourth album, originally released in 1988. At the time of its release, Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard were in Spain writing and recording music for "El Nino De La Luna", a film in which Lisa also made her acting debut.

Track Listing

1. The Host Of Seraphim
2. Orbis De Ignis
3. Severance
4. The Writing On My Father's Hand
5. In The Kingdom Of The Blind The One-Eyed Are Kings
6. Chant Of The Paladin
7. Song Of Sophia
8. Echolalia
9. Mother Tongue
10. Ullyses

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9770 in Music
• Released on: 2008-07-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Hybrid SACD, Original recording remastered

Customer Reviews

SACD version = AMAZING
I bought this SACD reissue (along with the other 8 DCD SACDS recently released) with trepidation, wondering if it would be worth the money. How much better can a cd sound? The music on this cd is great on its own. It's deep, spiritual, complex, well-crafted music that often transcends expectations. To put it simply, the music is heavenly. It manages to be dark and spiritual, yet uplifting at the same time, without ever seeming corny or overwrought. The band exercises its creativity without restraint, but it's never self-indulgent. The voices complement one another. Brendan is deep, masculine, and earthy, whereas Lisa is otherworldly, wordless, and pure sounding.

Regardless of whether or not you like this type of sound, the SACD version of this disc is amazing. It surpassed any hopes or expectations I may have had. Listening to this program is like listening to it for the first time. Every nuance is brought out, clear, crisp, full-bodied, yet there isn't that sense of the sound having been cranked up as you may notice on other "remasters." Some companies who remaster old albums seem to believe that "loud" is better. I've bought remasters before and thought they were worse than the originals as they just sound "blaring." These SACD reissues were left in capable hands as all of them sound astounding.

The band's two earliest releases ("Dead Can Dance" and "The Garden of the Arcane Delights") were maybe my least favorites. They certainly sound better, clearer, more detailed, but the SACD versions tend to underscore the limitations present when they were originally recorded. They tend to be a little more shrill, but that's simply how they have always been in my humble opinion. Don't get me wrong, they're still great cds, but simply not my favorites.

The other 7 sound rich and much warmer, particularly "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun," which to me, always had a cold, stark feeling to it. It sounds amazing. ("Dawn of the Iconoclast" is frightening.) All of this music has been given new life. The live cd in particular, "Toward the Within," literally takes your breath away (The track "Cantara" is thrilling.) If you are a dedicated fan of this band you have to consider getting an SACD player and these discs. You won't regret it. For those who don't know, you cannot hear the SACD program on these discs without an SACD player. If you play them on a regular cd player, you won't hear the high resolution version.

I love this cd
This is the cd that got me turned unto The Dead Can Dance. I've never heard of them before it. Now I'm addicted to this group.
I very highly recommend this cd.
I think it's beautifully done. It's one of those rare cds where I actually like all of the songs on it.

Aonther highly appealing offering
A short, repetitious, minimal, but often spectacular album refines further some of the haunting world-goth music this legendary duo helped pioneer. For as brief and seemingly light the album feels compositionally, Serpent's Egg still rests somewhere near the top of this immersive act's most sensual disc's on the whole. The crisp, diverse instrumentation, transportive vocals, and ethereal production all merge effortlessly to bring another modern mystical classic to their unique and impressive catalog.