THE GATHERING

'In Colour' plunges into the melancholy electronic ballad with Silje with a suave voice reminding me of the clarity of a JAPAN, hypnotic before a devastating orgasmic break like in the good old days of 'Rescue Me'; airy and warmly icy. 'When We Fall' repetitive electro, reminiscent of 'Souvenirs' for the pearl of tribal and unhealthy riffs; it's soft prog noisy without more, keyboards forward with soothing flute. 'Grounded' begins an airy spleen arpeggio then it goes on a basic crystalline rock where the pulled voice can remind Anneke and the sound of 'If Then Else' period; the riff is more energetic, pressing, guided by a solid rhythm; the rise becomes solemn between voices and choirs, pauses for a moment before setting off again with this perfect dreamlike mixture of keyboards. 'We Rise' with powerful chorus, rise that stands out; sensible title represented a moment of deep sadness of René it's won; Silje is remarkable for prolonging this and the ambient break before starting again on this melancholy spiral of the most beautiful effect.

'Black Is Magnified' atmospheric bucolic, melancholy to continue in line; crescendical softness à la ANATHEMA, acoustic piano and guitar moment, in phase with the PINK FLOYD 'Animals' period before a majestic luminous rise. 'Weightless' perceived dark tribal bringing the listener into weightlessness or trance depending; plaintive sounds, monolithic ambience until the drums come in giving more intensity and Aussie vibratos in the background; the magic happens with the hypnotizing voice. 'Pulse of Life' where the shoegaze is pushed to its extreme with reverberation of sounds, vocal trances and electro on a RADIOHEAD or a TIDES FROM NEBULA; cottony break and moving finale showing the diversity of the group on the melancholy psychedelic register, another musical paradigm. 'On Delay' small title great effect with this piece where the rhythmic base knocks out and makes you tap your feet; dark catchy ballad title to refocus and show René's signature.

An EP Interference is available with 'Strongers' to the bewitching rhythm of a thousand and one nights, between psyche and electro in front and archaic doom structure in the background. 'Disconnect' based on Silje's fearful, scratchy voice; melodic, melancholic, psychedelic title on a monolithic crescendo, brightened up by a riff from René. Then 'How To Measure A Planet-live Paris 2019' for a rereading of this anthology piece, underlining the desire to show the group's markers on 1998. A psyche-ambient musical sophistication on a bed of alternative rock and its derivatives krautrock, title which makes say that this EP represses nuggets of good classes and should not be left aside.

THE GATHERING have been a major band in the atmospheric-doom music scene. They come back here with a go-anywhere album taking from here and there sounds and atmospheres from their well-stocked catalogue. Over time the titles stand out from each other between his spatial, melancholic anthem and austere bucolic ballad where Silje transcended his pandemic isolation in beautiful way; an album not to be underestimated.

The first track is the title track 'Black Light District' which takes up most of the EP seeing as it is a 16+ minutes. It starts out slow and sparse featuring a solo piano. Percussion starts at the 2 minute mark along with some atmospheric guitar and bass. Guest Sarah Jezebel Deva, who was a soprano female vocalist for 'Cradle of Filth' for 14 years, starts with a slightly subdued spoken word passage with an echoing effect. After a few minutes, regular vocalist Anneke begins to sing while the spoken word continues. At six minutes, things are more intense when electric guitar takes over and the tempo quickens. Things get heavier after a short atmospheric break when the entire band explodes into a loud section. At around 8:30, we enter a heavy shoegaze style with a repeating guitar chord and heavy drumming. At around 10 minutes, things quiet down as the noise wall comes down, yet tension continues as things meander around and then a drone takes over. Soft guitar comes in keeping things minimal for this section. At 12:30, Anneke starts to finally sing a melody which percussion eventually picks up on and helps to carry forward. After she finishes, a nice piano interlude continues with the rest of the band supporting. Soon the band drops out leaving the piano and subdued vocals remaining. This track definitely continues through many sub- genres, yet remains quite concise and varied, so that the 16 minutes actually go by quite quickly.

Next is 'Debris'. This one starts out with a fast strumming guitar and Anneke singing almost right away. A heavy keyboard bass and Anneke trade off lead and then comes all together in a somewhat heavy track with some nice tricky rhythms. Things stay somewhat complex as the band doesn't settle with a typical song structure and melodies and riffs change. The vocal melody becomes somewhat typical, but the supporting instruments are somewhat atypical giving things a unique sound.

The last track is 'Broken Glass' which would also appear on the 'Souvenirs' album, however, this is a different version with only Anneke's vocals and a solo piano.

This EP is a decent recording, but holds nothing groundbreaking, only offering some good tracks that feature some complexity. It is a good EP to track down since there are 2 original tracks not available on the album and one that is in a different version. New fans might be interested in this one as would others. Time tends to be the only major problem here as the 27 minutes goes by really fast. Overall, it is deserving of 3 strong stars.

Anneke Van Giersbergen is a terrific live performer, beyond her obvious singing skills. Check out their other concerts on Youtube, or better yet buy a DVD. The enthusiasm she brings to "On Most Surfaces" here is particularly outstanding. THE GATHERING just seem energized in these concerts from their homeland. As other reviewers have mentioned, the rhythm section of Hugo and Hans drives the music to new heights. The band sounds like they drank a bunch of Red Bull before they went on stage. I hope they make a habit out of it!

And I'm confident with my affirmation because The Gathering (and specially Mandylion) started a well-known fever of metal bands led by female voices which remains till today. The influence in gothic metal bands like Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil is obvious. But glimpses of The Gathering can be also heard in more pop-oriented bands like Evanescence, and also in metal bands like Nightwish.

The main characteristic of The Gathering's sound in this album are the strong guitar riffs, the omniscient layers of keyboards and the incredible voice of Anneke van Giersbergen, who in my opinion is the best female metal singer ever. These three elements, helped by a competent production, created a very enjoyable album despite its obvious flaws.

Mandylion starts the album wonderfully with Strange Machine, with its great riff and outstanding vocals, in a sort of symphonic gothic metal both powerful and mellow, and very elegant. The lyrics are not so great, but they accompany the music just fine with its thematic about time travel.

Eleanor is darker, more gothic and pretty negative lyrics, again with some progressive influences and a great bass line. And very gothic is also In Motion #1, an almost symphonic song with tons of keyboards and a beautiful dark atmosphere.

Leaves start with mellow guitars but soon they give way to another dark riff with the typical layer of keyboards. And at this point we can't avoid thinking that this album is a bit repetitive, but the wonderful solo of the song and its instrumental interlude make us forget that.

Fear the Sea is another competent song which talk about the fearsome waters of the ocean, helped by some hard almost- thrash metal riffs. This song contains a long instrumental part which is not very brilliant, but adds a layer of extra setting. And very atmospheric is also the title track, with ethnical percussion and beautiful vocal melodies. A very adequate song for this point of the album!

Sand and Mercury is the longest and also the most progressive track of the album. Anneke don't appear till the sixth minute! And when she appears the song transform itself into pure magic. Beautiful! And JRR Tolkien talks at the end of the song? What more could we desire?

Oh, yes? I know what I desire for this album. A powerful yet beautiful ending track, with a bit of extra melody. And In Motion #2 is exactly that! Maybe my favorite track of the entire album. Just great and with a beautiful cello!

Conclusion: Mandylion is a very good record, almost excellent. Anneke is wonderful, the production is superb and the songwriting very strong although a bit repetitive. Of course, not every prog rock lover will be able to appreciate its quality and influence over the years. But if you like gothic rock, alternative metal and female voices, this album with fulfill all your expectations.

Best Tracks: Strange Machines, Eleanor, Leaves, Sand and Mercury, In Motion #2. But not a single weak song can be found here!

My rating: ****

This live album is different, because it has a lot of acoustic passages and most of the songs (if not all) had new arrangements, I mean, they were re-worked songs for this special semi-acoustic evening. So the band surprised the audience and the album's listeners because it features great iconic and not that iconic songs from their repertoire with a softer sound that was magnificently complemented by Anneke's beautiful, powerful and emotional voice.

Of course when someone aims to listen to The Gathering, it is expected to find those metal roots and those experimental moments they created with their 90s albums, which is why listening to this live album might be a double- edged knife, because you either might feel that lack of power, or you might find the magic that surrounded this show. I love the band and I stay with the magic, but I cannot deny this is not my favorite live release.

The night and the concert were beautiful, the music makes you travel with those wonderful guitars and keyboards, but without a doubt the main magic lies on Van Giersbergen's vocals and charisma. The band seemed to be connected so everything flows naturally, so this is without a doubt a great concert, a nice experiment that a fan like me appreciates, but honestly I would not use this as an introductory album, I would not recommend it unless I know the person already knows and likes The Gathering.

My favorite moments are: "Amity", "Red is a Slow Color", "Eleanor" and of course, the mighty "Travel", a song that never fails. My final grade will be 3 stars.

Enjoy it!

All three of the songs on this EP are strong ones. The general consensus seems to agree with me, and rates the MANDYLION album highly. Therefore I won't discuss the individual songs. I only have two criticisms of this Strange Machines EP. The first is that there's nothing to suggest to the listener that the two "live" tracks were actually recorded live. The other one is that an album track and an edited version of the song for radio is unnecessary IMO. Otherwise this is a very enjoyable way to spend 20 minutes.

I think this EP is terrific. I'm confident that a lot of folks would call How To Measure A Planet "progressive", as in innovative and forward-thinking. If you've already listened to the album, you're already familiar with two of these songs. I really like these alternative versions. I also don't object to the edited version of "Liberty Bell", which drags on a bit in the album version. This is a good representation of The Gathering, and I'm giving it four stars.

All three songs are good ones, with "Leaves" probably being my favorite. I don't care for a lot of versions of the same song, but in this case the second version of "Leaves" takes up less than a third of the total playing time. This is a good listen for anyone who is interested in The Gathering and wants a brief introduction. This is certainly not their best EP or single; some greater variety could have boosted the over all rating. Adrenaline/Leaves is a good introduction to the innovative sound that first brought The Gathering to the world's attention.

Four star songs: 'Areas'(3:31) and 'Sleep Paralysis' (3:15).

A 3.5 star album marked up on the strength of the excellent first half of the album. Some of the more atmospheric songs fall a little short of the standards set by previous Gathering albums.

This is a Dutch band and their musical style sounds to me more closer to the Gothic Rock / Alternative Rock musical styles with some "dark" atmospheres. In fact, for me this album is very "atmospheric", and this is the main thing in this album, with "atmospheric" guitars and "atmospheric" keyboards. But most of all, it has very good female vocals by Silje Wergeland (plus two ohter female singers as guests in two tracks: Anne van den Hoogen and Marcela Bovio, this last singer is from Mexico). There are not really guitar or keyboard solos, and the music is most focused on the vocals and in the lyrics, and this is a very big difference between this band and the "old" Prog Rock bands on which the virtuosity of the musicians was the main focus. So, the musical instruments are more focused in creating an "atmospheric vehicle" for the vocals and lyrics, with good arrangements which are more in the background. The lead singer and the vocals arrangements are so good that one forgets the presence of the other musicians in some parts. The music for the most part reflect an apparent tranquility, but in some places there are a few distorted guitars and a few heavy moments.The recording and the mixing are very good, very "atmospheric" too. And I also like the cover design.

In conclusion: this is a good band and this is a good album , even if their musical style is not one of my favourites. I think that this band is more for the "New Generation" than for some of the "Old Prog Rock Listeners" like me.