The first Dead Can Dance album recorded after Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry severed their romantic relationship, 1990’s Aion is, perhaps ironically, less stormy in tone than the albums that preceded it. It was recorded in a 19th-century church in the Irish countryside, a setting that enhanced the medieval and Renaissance motifs heard on “As the Bell Rings the Maypole Spins,” “Saltarello,” and “Mephisto.” “Black Sun” brought the duo as close to rock music as they'd been since the start of their career, but it was balanced by “Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book.” An unadorned folk song, it's surely the most sweetly pastoral piece of their career. As usual, the duo didn’t confine themselves to one genre. “Radharc” coaxes Middle Eastern incantations into the mix, while “The End of Words” continues their longstanding love for Gregorian chants. It's “The Song of the Sibyl” that feels most definitively like Dead Can Dance, if only because it focuses on Gerrard's ribbon-like vocals. For all the band’s multifaceted ambitions, she remained the music’s overarching star.