The Gathering: Discovering Hidden Music Gems
If you are looking for a band that has a long and rich history, years of evolution, many ups and rare downs, members coming and go. Yet their music remains of the highest quality. If you are looking for a group that has it all to become you new favorite discovery, I’m happy to present a wonderful band called The Gathering.
Born more that 30 years ago The Gathering went through multiple musical phases, it had different vocalist, they even were on hiatus. Yet they are here and active again. And through all these years they have produced some of the most impressive songs in progressive genre.
Who are The Gathering? Short Bio
The Gathering is a Dutch rock band formed in 1989. Initially known for their atmospheric doom metal sound, they gained fame in 1995 with “Mandylion,” featuring lead singer Anneke van Giersbergen. With her, their music shifted to include elements of progressive metal, alt rock, post-rock, and even trip-hop. After Anneke left in 2007, Silje Wergeland joined the band. The band took a break from 2014 to 2018. They released their latest album, “Beautiful Distortion,” on April 29, 2022.
Fun fact about the band’s name. If you are a fan of a movie Highlander you will like it. In the movie the immortals were fighting each other for the ultimate power. In the end the final duel was to supposed to happen during the Gathering of the strongest of them. The band members though it was a great idea to take that term and make it the name if their group.
For the latest news about the band check their official website and socials.
Music Style of The Gathering
The beautiful thing about The Gathering is that they have made music in so many genres and styles. From doom metal to alternative rock and experiments with showgaze and trip hop. And they had amazing vocalists like Anneke van Giersbergen to really make them stand out among other bands of the rock scene.
Their music is rarely aggressive or has high tempo. Instead the band loves to explore and invent beautiful slower paced melodic waves. And they are so good at this, that you just can’t help but to let these waves carry you with their flow.
What makes The Gathering so special?
I have listened to countess bands and solo artists. I can say that there’s no other band like The Gathering. Their music is unique. Th individual artists that have been a part of the group, the collective talent of the band created some unforgettable albums and songs.
I feel fortunate to stumble upon their CD many years ago. From the moment I first listened to that 90s album I realized that I found something special. The lyrics, the vocals, the music – it all simply clicked. It all resonated with something inside me. I hope you can experience similar emotions and feelings now that you know more about this group.
Best Song by The Gathering
It’s a tough job to pick just one song by the band that I like so much. The Gathering has various sides to them. I do enjoy some more depending on my mood or what I’d doing at the moment. Fortunately the group has enough of great hits for various situations. But this also makes picking a single song truly difficult. Which is always a good problem to have.
If you have never heard their music before, I can offer this track as introduction to The Gathering. It’s called “Saturnine”
And if you want check their other songs, maybe from other genres, here’s my TOP 10 Songs list by The Gathering. It’s my custom playlist, feel free to enjoy it on YT or Spotify.
