The Gathering
Always


3.5
great

Review

by Trey STAFF
October 11th, 2007 | 32 replies


Release Date: 1992 | Tracklist

Review Summary: The Gathering's debut album... those looking to hear Anneke's voice need not apply.

The silence is broken by the sound of a keyboard melody that seems oddly similar to the one on “In Motion #1” from the album Mandylion. After a few moments, the guitars and drums come in and also seem vaguely similar to that very same album, only slightly heavier and with more bottom end. The various elements of the song continue to come together and it sounds like this is going to be another great song from The Gathering, the only thing left to complete the picture is the vocals of Anneke van…. what the hell was that!!!

That is how I’d imagine the scene playing out for any fan of The Gathering who didn’t know of their past and just arbitrarily picked this album up due to the band name. They’d start to listen to the first track and the music would seem vaguely similar to Mandylion, but then at roughly the 1:41 mark instead of Anneke’s beautiful melodies, they would be suddenly jolted by low guttural growls. After a little research they’d discover that The Gathering wasn’t always so listener friendly, in fact, on their first album they share more in common with My Dying Bride and early Paradise Lost then they do Evanescence or Slowdive.

Earlier it was alluded to that musically the songs off of Always could have been on the Mandylion album due to their similar elements, but there are minor differences. One big difference is that the band seems to be more willing to break into a faster speed then anything they’ve done since this album. That doesn’t mean that they’re incorporating blast beats or anything, it just means that occasionally they will get into a rhythm that could almost be considered fast. In addition to the faster sections, The Gathering are also more inclined to add some very slow, Doom inspired parts to the songs as well. In fact, the music sticks very close to the slow Doom vibe for a considerable amount of this album.

It should come as no surprise that the riffs themselves are simple for the most part, and that they stick to a lower tuning similar to any common Doom band. Despite the lower tuning and the occasional faster or slower pace, the riffs are still of the same catchy and energetic type that fans of Mandylion would expect. In fact, the riffs aren’t all simple chord progressions on this album; the guitars will actually occasionally take the lead roll and play some good harmonies, or lose the distortion entirely and play cleanly to add to the song’s atmosphere.

Just as in later releases, though, it’s not the guitars that provide most the melody or atmosphere, it’s the keyboards. On this album the keyboards stick entirely to a strange sci-fi type of sound that allows this album to really stand out from its peers. For lack of a better term, the keyboards almost feel kind of “spacey”, which give this album a very bizarre, almost fantasy-like, atmosphere. When you combine the low-tuned riffs with the odd other-worldly keyboard sounds you end up with an atmosphere that feels almost like each song is a journey, with the various parts and sections adding up to something that couldn’t really be considered dark, but isn’t entirely uplifting either. That is the unique mood that The Gathering has created on this album.

The unique nature of the music is carried over to the lyrics as well courtesy of Bart Smits who does all the male vocals and also wrote all the lyrics for this album. Lyrically his style is actually quite similar to that of Anneke, except he really does come off as more intelligent. His lyrics are very well thought out and attempt to answer questions he seems to have about the world around him. Each song’s lyrics begin with some sort of philosophical musing and then the song itself expands upon that original thought with a story of some kind. It may seem strange, but it works, and is also another element that helps them to avoid sounding like any number of other doom bands.

One way that this album does sound typical is in the vocals themselves. Bart’s voice isn’t anything to write home about, it’s your typical low death growl, but not so low or guttural that it’s impossible to understand what he is saying. Despite the typical nature of his vocals, he avoids falling into the hazard of sounding two dimensional due to the fact that he does include inflection and annunciation to his voice, as well as adding the rare spoken word part to a song. Additionally, foreshadowing The Gathering’s future, there are also occasional female vocals within a lot of the songs that help to break them up and add an additional element. The female vocals here are no where near as good as their eventual full time vocalist, but they’re not bad within the role they’re used either.

It’s a hard thing to decide who might be into the first album by The Gathering. It’s not too far of a stretch to think that those fans of their later works would hate this, but it’s also not too hard to think that those into doom might not like this due to the more upbeat nature of the lyrics and music. So, it really falls to those that are more open minded and willing to take a chance on something slightly different to experience this album and potentially enjoy it. Another small group that could be into this are those that liked the music of Mandylion or Nighttime Birds, but that generally like things heavier then those two albums. At any rate, this is a great album that even at this early stage in their career shows the unique elements and their attention to the small details that made later releases the awesome listening experiences they are.



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user ratings (118)
3.5
great

Comments:Add a Comment 
Willie
Moderator
October 11th 2007


20311 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Yep

jrowa001
January 30th 2009


8752 Comments


this was ok, but it was unbearable at times

Willie
Moderator
January 30th 2009


20311 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Oh shit! Say it isn't so ;) Ok, so I'm the only one that actually enjoys this album. Thanks, Jrowa, you've helped me come to terms with this.

jrowa001
January 30th 2009


8752 Comments


haha, sorry. i mean it had parts that i liked but overall it felt very empty.

Willie
Moderator
January 30th 2009


20311 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Maybe I like this because this is not only my entry into the doom genre but also my first The Gathering album.

jrowa001
January 30th 2009


8752 Comments


thats probably the reason. i might like this if havent already been listening to doom for a long time

Essence
February 3rd 2009


6739 Comments


For you, Willie, I'll give this a stab

Willie
Moderator
February 3rd 2009


20311 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Good luck! Apparently, my enjoyment of this is more based off of nostalgia.

linguist2011
October 21st 2012


2656 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I've always been a big fan of The Gathering and this album is the one that introduced me to the band strangely. It has an extremely eerie atmosphere and the mood is that of a depressing one, but it works so well for the music's sake. 'Gaya's Dream' and 'King for a Day' are beautifully performed.

Epictemptation
May 7th 2013


88 Comments


I hate when good bands are compared with a suckish band like Evanescence.

manosg
Emeritus
May 7th 2013


12710 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Who the hell does that, lol?

Ocean of Noise
February 7th 2016


10998 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

I actually really like the artwork for this, as well as the album itself. A bit sloppy and simplistic at times, but still pretty interesting.

Asdfp277
February 7th 2016


24791 Comments


the artwork is lovely; the album, not so much

Ocean of Noise
February 7th 2016


10998 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

The mixing is pretty bad, but the music itself is really good tbh

Ianman
June 21st 2016


24 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

i still think its brilliant as i love my DOOM , maybe just was the mood i was in at the time but it connected and stayed with me . This one, Mandylion and how to measure , three classics by one band all in different styles . Cant think thats happened before or again ?

Maco097
August 3rd 2017


3343 Comments


This is the only Gathering album that matters, rest is worthless.

artiswar
August 3rd 2017


14747 Comments


most Gathering albums haven't had a comment in 3-5 years until now... and you chose this one. yeah okay sure whatever you say... *puts gun in mouth as a single bitter tear rolls down*

Asdfp277
August 3rd 2017


24791 Comments


i'm depressed

artiswar
August 3rd 2017


14747 Comments


I got you buddy *cuddles*

Maco097
August 3rd 2017


3343 Comments


I chose this one because it's their best obviously.



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