| Always | 1992 |
| Almost A Dance | 1993 |
| Mandylion | review #2 | 1995 |
| Nighttime Birds | 1997 |
| How To Measure A Planet? | 1998 |
| Superheat (live) | 2000 |
| If_then_else | 2000 |
Dutch act The Gathering are an interesting brand of atmospheric and moody death metal, led by the soaring vocals of Anneke van Giersbergen, with powerful, tasteful and quite involved arrangements. They've released six studio albums, plus a live one, and are now one of Century Media's most promising acts this side of Iced Earth.
--Nick Karn
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COMMENTS
Actually, The Gathering released six studio albums [correction made]. Their first two (which predeated Mandylion and featured male singers instead of Anneke, on the first one Bart Smits, a death metal grunter, on the second Niels Duffuens, a more nasal punk rock-type guy from what I've heard), however, were released on a very small, obscure label (Fountation 2000, I beleive, is the name of it. No I'm not familiar with them either) and are nearly impossible to find. And "death metal"? Maybe on their first two albums, however "doom metal" or "gothic metal" would be a much better term (I prefer to refer to this era of the Gathering as gothic rock) (I also think it would a good idea to use these terms instead, as "death metal" might give poeple the wrong idea, thinking they sound like Morbid Angel or Cynic, and turn off some potential listeners). And their heaviness has waned quite a bit since Mandylion, most notably on their last two albums which are more atmospheric with less doom heaviness and are less on the goth side (even occasionally incorporating some electronic elements! !!!).
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
I seem to recall Mark Prindle noting in his review of Van Halen III in referring to Gary Cherone something to the effect of 'How is it that at the end of the recording sessions, nobody turned to the others and said, 'Say, you know..... this singer has a terrible voice?'" Well, in the case of The Gathering's second album, Niels Duffuens' voice isn't so much terrible as it is incredibly out-of-place, but I think my Prindle analogy still works in that I'm still really scratching my head as to how no one else in the band seemed to have noticed that. Almost A Dance is definitely one of the most laughable mismatches of vocals to music I've yet to come across - this guy is pretty much a nasaly, sort of punk rock-styled singer stuck in a very often slow 'gothic metal' band, and I don't even think one needs to hear the actual songs to realize that, uh, that combination just doesn't work. Some say it could have even been great as an instrumental record, and while I wouldn't say that, let's just say it surely makes me glad that Anneke van Giersbergen was able to find her way into the mix on the next album.
Because the problems with this go beyond just the vocals, as distracting as those are. There's definitely potential scattered around the songs to ensure they're still listenable overall, but for the most part, it seems like the band either has a huge amount of trouble coming up with vocal melodies that don't sound really, really similar to each other, or the melodies just have to be that way to suit their vocalist's incredibly limited range. I guess "On A Wave" is a successful demonstration of the formula because it opens up the album and thus denies me the chance of saying, 'Hey, I already heard this melody and repetitive heavy symphonic arrangement [x] songs ago!', but once you've heard that, you've probably heard what almost everything else on here sounds like. Towards end of the album, I start to forget how the songs go even as they're playing (the last two in particular... ugh).
The song that probably suffers most from this style is the 8-1/2 minute "Her Last Flight" - the opening interplay between the bass and really neat sort of industrial keyboard soundscape is actually my favorite part of the album, but once the vocals and heaviness get more prominent, the song crumbles into incredibly formulaic boredom. What's really frustrating is that the acoustic ballad "Nobody Dares" proves Niels is capable of singing really nicely, and the band actually does have a talent for creating haunting melodies (I just love those bells and subtle mellow nuances). There's also some cool ideas that show up here and there (the synth pop-style keyboard riff that starts off "The Sky People", the captivating alt rock style bass-driven groove of "Proof", the chilling horn introduction to "Like Fountains", the choir bits of "A Passage To Desire"), but they just choose to bury moments like this with unvaried vocal melodies, riffless gothic metal backing, and totally inappropriate singing. I guess you could call this album a laboratory of unfinished potential for The Gathering, but I'd rather listen to the actual Mandylion monster they ended up finishing from the tons of parts they had. With help from their replacement vocalist, of course.
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(Nick Karn's review)
The Gathering's breakthrough record of heavy, sorrowful, beautiful, and contemplative atmospheres is led by the expressive and very majestic vocal power of Anneke van Giersbergen, who also wrote all the lyrics, over a sound that often borders on heavy thrashier moments or slow grinds with slight progressive arrangements and airy synth touches, which give Mandylion something of a very intense beauty. Occasionally, the solo sections on certain songs are a little dull or overlong (the instrumental title track, for instance, is very peaceful but the melodic theme it's built on isn't quite solid enough to be sustained for five minutes), and the melodies aren't always that great, but the overall atmosphere here and clear vocal talent often makes up for whatever shortcomings the sound may have.
The stripped down opening riff of "Strange Machines" gives you a false impression of what you're in for, as the song quickly ascends to greater heights in its' towering wall of wailing vocals, heavy guitars and synths, with some of the most reflective, warm and imaginative lyrics on the album. "Eleanor" is even more fascinating in its' turn to a fairly menacing riff fest near the end from a slow, bitter number, and the final lines are positively dark and menacing, and "In Motion #1" is built on a bell-like synth pattern that builds up to an awesome crescendo ('make me cry in vain...') and an excellent solo section for added drama. The first half then closes out with "Leaves", as a pretty guitar line precedes more sorrow in the main melody, music and lyrics, with a despairing chorus ('I don't really know you, I don't really care'), and a gorgeous melodic guitar solo midsong.
The second half is a bit weaker, which keeps Mandylion from being truly phenomenal, as "Fear The Sea", despite more excellent vocals and a fascinating 'sea' musical emulation in the solo section, is mostly unmemorable, and like I said before, the title track is peaceful, but not much else. However, the album's highlight follows in "Sand And Mercury", as a lengthy 6 minute jam builds up the action in successfully conveying all the album's emotion, and once the lines 'my dear, don't leave me now' come in, it almost seems like everything around is dying, it's such a powerful, extremely mournful, epic piece, and the reprise track "In Motion #2" builds more of that momentum from the opening line ('I see him turn away...') to close the album on an uncertain note. In all, this is a fine display of emotional and epic atmospheric work well worth your music collection.
I went into this review actually wondering if I was going to have to piss off Mr. Vexor, a site contributor who sent me this evaluation copy. See, I had bad feelings about a female lead vocalist in a metal band. Call me chauvanistic, but I have never really heard a great female vocalist in any genre. The ones in metal or of some offshoot of metal tend to try and scream like their male counterparts, and most often it sounds really pathetic and is not really enjoyable to listen to. Thankfully, the Gathering's Anneke van Geirsbergen (i have no clue if that is spelled right) took the opposite approach and heads for the stratosphere and showing her more than ample range. Oh yeah, and she's pretty hot too, from looking at this photo in the insert. Drool. A hot metal chick who can actually SING. Why cant their be more of these?
As for the band, I wasn't REALLY impressed with anybody's particular instrumental skills. Competent to be sure, but nothing really spectacular. All in all, they seem to be somewhat of an offshoot of Seventh Son era Maiden (which in turn, has roots in progressive suites) with the emphasis on moving, slowish guitar lines and ambiatic (I still dont know if thats a word!) keyboards spread across the soundstage. It pretty much blends together very well with the vocalist. My only complaint really is that some of the riffs are a bit to unenergetic for my taste. Would it be too much to ask for a midtempo or uptempo track? I guess it is. I will admit I don't really know all that much about the melodic metal genre. But I do know that Seventh Son was considered to be in that genre and we had a few uptempo tracks on there.
As for the actual tracks, my favorites as of this writing are "Strange Machines" with soaring vocals, and a catchy vocal melody, or "Leaves" with a great little melodic run around the 4 minute mark. "Sand And Mercury" has a cool piano line and beautiful vocals in the later passages. And at the risk of repeating myself way too many times, the singing in "In Motion #2" is fabulous, although #1 wasn't as good. On a final note, the mix is terrible. Granted, all I have is an evaluation copy playing on my computer's CD Player with no bass or treble controls (my kickass stereo is at home), but man, it doesnt get much worse than this. Murky, blurry, and it sounds like all the soundstage is compressed into a very small dynamic range. It's too bad, because this is the type of band that lends itself to ambience, which unfortunately this mix does not provide. If anybody out there has the store version, I would appreciate your comments on how it sounds.
Overall, not a bad album at all. "Strange Machines" is even great---but there are not many others on here worthy of that label. On the other hand, there isnt really a BAD song on here either, just a couple of aimless ones like "Fear the Sea" which despite having some interesting effects doesn't really accomplish much as a song. Or the the title track, which is kind of a pointless instrumental. It's worth picking up if you're a melodic metal fan, but I don't know how well someone outside that genre would accept this group. Actually as I finish writing this, I just went to Allmusic to see what they rated this album, and the funny thing is, their writer mentioned almost the same thing I did. That is honestly the first time I have agreed with one of them. ;-)
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COMMENTS
[in response to the first review:]
Wow, an 8! I'm shocked! When I sent you that burnt copy of the album (I'm assuming that's what you're reviewing) I expected you to act like it was the second coming (the second coming of Images and Words, anyway). How many times did you listen to it? But I do agree that the second side is kind of a letdown, although it does have "Sand and Mercury", the best song on the album and one of the best songs ever written. I agree that "Fear the Sea" is a bit weak, that, although a great attempt at an instrumental mood piece, the title track has trouble carrying its weight for 5 1/2 minutes, and that despite "In Motion #2" being real pretty (especially in the end), it would be better suited to close a more substantial side like side 1. Speaking of side 1, it's definitely another story. "Strange Machines" has a killer chorus and bridge, "Eleanor" kicks ass all over the place with its awesome bass hook and riff (Pat D. would LOVE this song), "Leaves" has a tremendously beautiful solo section and harrowing lyrics (the verse melody may seem ugly at first, then you keep listening and realize it's ART and that it's SUPPOSED to be that way to convey the type of emition being set by the song), and "In Motion #1" is pretty darn good if I don't say so myself. As for the production, it's suprisingly good for such an obscure band as The Gathering on such a small label as Century Media. The mix is well-balanced and suits the atmosphere very well, athough the drums have a very odd "polk, polk" sound. As a whole, Mandylion isn't perfect (like everyone else says), but only one of the songs is less-than-stellar, and the rest is consist of four excellent songs, a great song and two good songs. 9.
BTW, don't be surprised when everyone at chedsey.com starts flaming you for that 8.
Oh yeah, this album is also worth buying for the artwork alone. Gorgeously well done, it consists of tribal and hyroglyphic drawings superimposed over a warm-colored stone/gravel background that really add to the atmosphere and feel of the album.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
Still basically in the same style as Mandylion, but unfortunately, not nearly as impressive as before. However, even though there isn't that much to say about this album that can't be applied to the last one, that isn't to say Nighttime Birds doesn't hit gorgeous peaks all its' own. It's just that the songs are less memorable (though the singing is still pretty spectacular as usual), and it really runs out of steam towards the end. Plus, if you were a little annoyed by the slow tempo of before (I wasn't, but it would have helped to have a few faster songs in there), you might be a bit more impatient with this one. Just a word of warning, even though I do realize it's supposed to be used in order to create an effective mood for those vocals. And the success of the songs here basically depends on how well that sound gets to you.
This time, the standouts that my ears pick out would probably be the slow-building "Confusion", with a simple, but moody guitar line that creates one hell of an effect (and Anneke's vocals, needless to say, are their usual capable self during the chorus), making it probably the best song on here. Elsewhere, "The Earth Is My Witness" basically gains its' power completely due to the vocals, or at least the vocals combined with the cold, solitary 'can we close our eyes' melody that shows up at the chorus, backed by the usual effective guitar/keyboard background. Nice mood piece there. And how about "Kevin's Telescope", which really evokes the expansive mood of actually looking at the distant, unknown universe through said astronomical device. Sure, the verses aren't really that memorable or special, but again, the chorus and its' simultaneously beautiful and mysterious atmosphere, with that sweeping melodic twist in the melody and vocals, is stunning work. A nighttime song, indeed.
As for the other songs, the opener "On Most Surfaces" immediately aims for atmosphere (the key to this album and The Gathering as a whole) with its' repetitive grinding guitar riff and atmospheric keys, holding up surprisingly for a well over 6 minute song, while "The May Song" has a poppier approach than normal, with a neat use of organ there in the background, "Third Chance" has a more energetic tempo than anything else, almost coming dangerously close to rocking out, convincingly at that (almost a sin for this band, I know!) and "New Moon, Different Day" escapes me (though it's not bad). However, as much as it's sometimes hard to find differences between the songs, all of them are good, often beautiful, and at this point, the album's not that far off from Mandylion quality.
Unfortunately, what drags the album down somewhat are the last two songs, which aren't so much awful as they are boring. Sure, Anneke sings well on both of them, but she sings well on everything here, and besides, the vocals aren't enough to rescue the title track or "Shrink" from the 'blah' category. The former track does have a really neat rhythm-heavy beginning and a good bassline, but it just works the same okay slow groove for over 7 minutes (a far cry from "Sand And Mercury", I must say), while the latter song is just a waste of space. Just a bland, simplistic and repetitive piano ballad with little melody, or captivating atmosphere. But still, throw out these songs and you've got a close to excellent listening experience, instead of a merely somewhat good one. And it's definitely recommendable for anyone who called Mandylion a classic.
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