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User
Reviews 32
Approval 98%
Soundoffs 25
Album Ratings 2376
Objectivity 53%
Last Active 09-05-22 6:33 pm
Joined 06-17-12
Review Comments 10,970
| The Gathering ranked (mostly)
I excluded Almost a Dance and Afterwords because 1. I haven't heard them all the way through and 2. They're both generally considered bad by The Gathering's standards. These guys rule and they deserve more love and discussion on this site. | | 1 |  | The Gathering
Mandylion
This is their most consistent and arguably their most influential release. It's a pretty big grower, and I actually didn't fully appreciate it until I heard Nighttime Birds, but it's easily my favourite Gathering album now. One of the greatest and most unique metal albums of the '90s. 5/5 | | 2 |  | The Gathering
How to Measure a Planet?
This is when they all but completely cast aside their metal roots, in favour of a more experimental direction. In doing so, they created a real classic, filled with tons of different sonic colours and moods. Its only downside, really, is its length, but it manages to succeed tremendously despite that. There's definitely an argument for this being their best. 5/5 | | 3 |  | The Gathering
Souvenirs
This was my favourite Gathering album for a while, and there are still certain songs here that hit me harder than anything else in their discography. It's their most natural-sounding album, and it has the most compelling atmosphere out of all of their albums. The only problem with it is that it starts to lose some steam near the end. Otherwise, this is essential listening. 4.5/5 | | 4 |  | The Gathering
Nighttime Birds
This is the weaker of their two metal albums with Anneke van Giersbergen, but it's still awesome. They started to experiment more with atmosphere and use new songwriting techniques on this album, and for the most part succeeded tremendously. It's less memorable than some of their other albums, but it's also one of their most interesting. 4.5/5 | | 5 |  | The Gathering
Home
This is a beautiful last album with Giersbergen. It's probably the moodiest album they recorded with her, and musically it's very strong. The lyrics are more obviously weak than on other releases, though, which brings it down from being a truly essential Gathering album. Still, there's plenty to love about this album and it's worth coming back to. 4/5 | | 6 |  | The Gathering
if_then_else
This features the weakest performance from Giersbergen. The vocals are just really mediocre compared to the other releases with her, and this brings down the album a bit. They're more pitchy and far less controlled. The songwriting is still very strong, though, and Saturnine, despite Giersbergen's subpar vocals, is one of their big hits. A solid, but less essential album. 4/5 | | 7 |  | The Gathering
Disclosure
This is a wonderfully experimental and atmospheric album, though the songwriting really isn't as memorable as their glory days, and it lacks the distinctive je-ne-sais-quoi that makes their albums with Giersbergen really great. Silje Wergeland is nowhere near the vocalist that Giersbergen is, and it lacks the edge that previous releases of theirs had, but it's still a worthwhile album. 3.5/5 | | 8 |  | The Gathering
The West Pole
This is a great alternative rock album, but it really doesn't sound like The Gathering. It's undeniably well put-together and the songwriting is very intelligent, but I just don't really ever return to it. Worth a listen for real fans, but ultimately not all that essential. 3.5/5 | | 9 |  | The Gathering
Always
This is one of their weakest releases, but it still has a certain charm to it. It's their only album with death growls, which might be a welcome and fresh change for some listeners. The instrumental work and the production are both pretty sloppy, though, and the songwriting really isn't very memorable at all. It's decent, and it offers something different, but it's really only for hardcore fans. 3/5 | |
Ocean of Noise
07.09.16 | Such an amazing band. | EvoHavok
07.09.16 | Nice to see the love for Souvenirs. | Ocean of Noise
07.09.16 | It's so good. "Broken Glass" and the title track are top-tier Gathering songs. |
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