<\/a>Brand new paths \/ In ways to soothe \/ Never disagree with your youth \/ Part of your heart \/ Will separate \/ It will.\u201d The brooding intensity of the lyrics crawls beneath your skin, but is subdued by the industrial-inspired beats and guitar samples. Such is change for the Netherlands-based outfit that carved themselves a niche under the \u201cdoomdeath\u201d metal music category early in their career. <\/p>\nAnneke van Giersbergen is responsible for eliciting the change in the music, since her angelic and uplifting voice towers uncomfortably collides with the monolithic riffing and throbbing percussions that were once the trademark of the band displayed in Mandylion<\/i>. Eventually, The Gathering decided to undress their metal roots, which started with How To Measure A Planet? <\/i>and perfected in Souvenirs<\/i>, treaded with substantial compositions and packed performances.<\/p>\n
The substantial compositions come in their current form of music, which was dubbed as triprock. And rightfully so, since the beats are reminiscent of, well, trip-hop, while the distorted wall of noise provides the texture and atmosphere in which the rhythms lay. \u201cThese Good People\u201d serves up the goods with great effect; there simply is no trace of the former music in their blend of minimal soundscapism that Souvenirs <\/i>wears on its sleeves. <\/p>\n
Performance turns up a notch in their succeeding numbers. \u201cBroken Glass\u201d and \u201cYou Learn About It\u201d are certified standout tracks, both of which color heaven with bright pastels. The former breaks the resolute tone of despondency with guitar effects burning with sorrow and loss. On the other hand, Anneke\u2019s crystal-clear voice, along with the fleeting instrumentations, seems to rise up from the deepest and darkest secret to the most exulting high, unburdening the listener from the world. <\/p>\n
Other highlights include the single \u201cMonsters,\u201d which seems to be the only track that conjures the fangs of their former sound, but, like the other songs from this album, lets the vocals and instruments coincide with one another. Lastly, \u201cA Life All Mine,\u201d which features out-there music connoisseur Trickster G. Rex (of Borknagar and Ulver fame), is an undeniable powerhouse. Two of the best vocalists in this side of the music scene exchanging despondent lines and morose, yet enlightening melodies are nothing short of captivating. <\/p>\n
The only detriment when listening to this album is the density of its tracks. Letting the songs flutter like butterflies in your dark room would allow you to appreciate its beauty, but only a listener would fully understand its essence when prepped in a contemplative mood. That in itself is a difficult task, since the length and the arrangements of some of the songs tend to drag the experience. And can somebody remind me if they remember what \u201cJelena\u201d sounded like? <\/p>\n
Still, Souvenirs <\/i>stays true to the Gathering name, delivering what could arguably be the most consistent effort in their discography. Even more impressive about this album is that it came from the midst of a change in the band\u2019s music direction. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":29102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7749],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-40622","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-gathering","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40622"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}