Lisa Gerrard's voice has a range unlike any I have ever heard and she has a particular habit of singing what sounds like lyrics, but is actually just sounds alternating between highs and lows with the mood of the music. This was quite an unusual combination, but one I have come to expect from this group. I have been a fan of DCD since first hearing them in 1992, during one of my many LSD experiences. I don't know if that context influenced my continued fascination with DCD, but I am certain it contributed to my initial attraction. .
I was pretty much bottle fed on 70's music such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Santana, so I was used to music that was somewhat intense and not your usual radio fluff. Still, as I lay there looking up at the tie-dyed tapestry on the ceiling and hallucinating, I totally fell in love with Dead Can Dance. I had never heard anything so hauntingly mournful or felt so in tune to any kind of music. One of their first albums, 1988's full-length album Serpent's Egg, made me feel like I was taken to a faraway land full of lost loves and bitter enemies, wind whispering through dark mossy trees and ruins of forgotten castles. Needless to say I was hooked, and until I discovered teen angst and other less dreamy substances to influence my mood, DCD was my main musical focus. .
DCD began their career exploring Celtic music, old Irish ballads of love and martyrdom mixed with Middle Eastern rhythms and music to belly dance by. Though they have gathered quite a following of snobbish intellectuals, black draped Goths, and other underground subcultures over the years, DCD has never quite gotten the nod from the general public. They have an extremely loyal fan base, as evidenced by any web search of their names. They appeal to the underground cultures, in part because they can't be classified easily and this is quite the selling-point for groups whose entire existence is focused on not being "normal" in any way.
