With the industrial textures of their eponymous debut behind them, the fifth album from Dead Can Dance (Aion, released in 1990) is perhaps the most focused and concise of their albums. Predominately recorded at their own studio in Southern Ireland, it features guest vocals from soprano David Navarro Sust. His vocals add to Brendan and Lisa's opposing yet complimentary styles. The Middle Ages and the early Renaissance are a core influence for Aion; an atmosphere only amplified by the album's cover, a section from the Earth phase of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch's famed triptych, The Garden of Earthly Delights.