What does everyone think of The Gathering?

[J.]

I've only heard Mandylion and Nighttime Birds, and thought both were really good female fronted metal.

Any opinions on the later rock-oriented stuff? Any opinons on the really early death/doom?

kthxbyefukoff

 

[Captain Beard]

S'alright.

 

[NAD]

I really dig a few songs on If_Then_Else, and Souvenirs has a nifty song with Garm co-vo-ca-ling with whatshernuts. Both are pretty good albums but nothing amazing. Never heard anything else from them.

 

[snow2fall]

Get yourself "How To Measure A Planet". Non-metal. Absolutely beautiful. "Great Ocean Road" and "Frail" are two of my favourite songs. Anneke's voice just carries you away... She's one of the very few female singers that I really like. If you get the chance: Go catch them live. I owe them one of the most memorable concert nights of my life.

 

[Reign in Acai]

I didn't care for Souvenirs. I have heard songs from their older albums that I have quite enjoyed.

 

[Demonspell]

I basically ignored this band until Souvenirs, I got sucked in by its dark yet seductive atmopshere on most of the tracks, and it came out at the right time when I was starting to listen to more than just metal and prog. Guess I'm in the minority by declaring it their best...I've also learned to enjoy the first two with Anneke as well...

 

[Nate The Great]

All the stuff with Anneke is excellent, but their later stuff is super excellent. They are one of my favorite bands. They now have nothing to do with metal, but if you can get past that you'll find an excellent band.

 

[J.]

I think I will try one of their post Nghttime Birds albums. Which is best out of How to MEasure a Planet, Souvenirs and If Then Else?

 

[Sadguru]

Awesome band.

 

[Six-winged Seraph]

Awesome live, on the best show I've seen is the tour with Agalloch/November's Doom, although it did suck waiting three hours in the freezing cold, becuase of The Gathering's egos...

 

[Thanatopsis123]

I love The Gathering. I pretty much rank their albums in reverse-chronological order. Souvenirs and Sleepy Buildings have helped me fight insomnia many times (in a good way).

 

[lizard]

The Gathering is one of my all time favorite bands. when they were anonymous metal (the first two albums) it was boring, like so much mediocre metal is. but Anneke made all the difference. Sleepy Buildings is an accoustic masterpiece and Superheat is live with some of the metal remaining but with her amazing vocals.

Highway Corsair: how do you know the delay was due to the band's egos? I'm honestly curious. maybe it was equipment or travel delay or something. I guess its hard for me to picture it. After all, they're not the Rolling Stones.

 

[Nate The Great]

I think I will try one of their post Nghttime Birds albums. Which is best out of How to MEasure a Planet, Souvenirs and If Then Else?

Think of it this way. Each album after their metal phase moves more and more away from traditional rock and metal based instrumentation. How to Measure a Planet -> If_Then_Else -> Souvenirs. In my opinion each album also gets better. They're all excellent, though. I'd say go for If_Then_Else, if you forced me to make a recommendation.

 

[Six-winged Seraph]

The Gathering is one of my all time favorite bands. when they were anonymous metal (the first two albums) it was boring, like so much mediocre metal is. but Anneke made all the difference. Sleepy Buildings is an accoustic masterpiece and Superheat is live with some of the metal remaining but with her amazing vocals.

Highway Corsair: how do you know the delay was due to the band's egos? I'm honestly curious. maybe it was equipment or travel delay or something. I guess its hard for me to picture it. After all, they're not the Rolling Stones.

I don't the exact details, but the sound system wasn't what they wanted, so they had to change it, and Agalloch's and Novembers's Doom sets got cut, but The Gathering is still on the best live bands ever. :hotjump:

 

[Will Bozarth]

their acoustic live cd is awesome

 

[Erik]

I don't hate Mandylion and if I find it cheap sometime I will pick it up

Oh and concerning the early stuff, I suggest picking up second album "Almost a Dance" for comedy value

The vocals are hilariously atrocious!

The first one is OK death/doom I guess, not really a genre highlight or anything

 

[Thanatopsis123]

Anybody know of any bands similar to The Gathering? I'm in the mood for something along those lines that I haven't heard before. I suppose it'll be a while before The Gathering get a new singer and put something out. So in the meantime, who should I be looking at?

 

[Ars Magna]

Madder Mortem often falls into that category. I personally enjoy The Gathering much more, but Madder Mortem is decent.

 

[\/oidhanger]

The earliest material by this band is awesome death/doom, the demos were reissued somewhere along the line. Definitely worth getting. I like the later stuff, but it's nothing I'd go out of my way to get a hold of.

 

[Thanatopsis123]

Anybody else heard their new album? I still had high hopes despite the lose of Anneke but I'm disappointed. I probably would have had no complaints about this album had it been from some new up-and-comer but I expect better of The Gathering.

Still not bad though, and while I don't like the new singer anywhere near as much as Anneke, there are a couple moments when it actually sounds like Anneke.