Dead Can Dance's third album steps beyond the bounds of guitar and bass, using dark strings, brass and sweeping synths to create a cinematic, often apocalyptic landscape that highlights Brendan Perry's foreboding drone and Lisa Gerrard's unearthly alto—especially on the ominous "Dawn of the Iconoclast". Mystical ideals and archetypal struggles inform dark sagas like "Anywhere Out of the World" and "Summoning of the Muse", while the tombstone cover art and trellised minor-key melodies suggest the ethereal gothic-rock scene from which the duo sprang.