The Gathering – Sleepy Buildings (Century Media)
Sigh. This has to be one of the greatest bands in the history of music. They started out as a total death/black metal group (and were one of the first to incorporate keyboards in metal), then got an amazing female singer, became mellower metal, then trip-rock, and now just pure psychedelic/doom/melancholic rock with atmospheres that are superbly captivating and hypnotic. Anneke van Giersbergen’s voice is so beautiful and mesmerizing, you could seriously fall in love with her by just listening to a few songs. The music fits her voice perfectly. It flows and ebbs around her, and you can kinda envision her as she caresses it and soothes it and treats it like her little baby. This is a live, semi-acoustic (i.e. unplugged) recording. It’s all piano, keyboards, acoustic guitars, acoustic drums and bass (think Opeth’s Damnation). I am pleased to say that the songs don’t lose anything, and the band is still just as competent as ever. Everything sounds perfect (touch-ups, anyone?), and her voice... oh, how my heart longs for her. Perfect album for a romantic night. This should appeal to practically ALL DJs, there’s something in here for everyone.
Tracks:
1) Haunting guitar strumming, beautiful piano melody, and soothing vocals. Picks up and becomes way trippy.
2) My favorite song of theirs, very drum-n-bass, a tale of lost love and her voice shines like nothing else. The added piano rocks, but I miss the electronic drums. Haunting midsection and sparse keys do it for me.
3) Just piano and her voice to start, and then drums, keys, and acoustic guitar join in. Achingly beautiful.
4) The more hard-rock side of The Gathering, soaring melodies, amazing vocals, and the piano just won’t stop. Doesn’t really settle down for too long, yet still very hypnotic.
5) Can someone say Agalloch? The intro, haunting, wintry guitar strumming and banging drums are straight out of The Mantle. The whole song flows like an icy river in the dead of winter. Really quiet midsection that becomes scary, and then a violin joins in.
6) A special song written just for this CD, kinda singer-songwriter-ish, just her and a piano, this one is awesome.
7) Long song, it’s so emotional and powerful, I think I can almost feel her breaking down. I get a Beatles feel from this, especially since it’s such an uplifting message.
8) Much shorter, and a lot more concise, just powerful, intimidating piano chords and her lament.
9) Another sad love song, it’s so pretty. The drums sound huge, but like they’re played in the next room, and the whole song picks up only to trail off into just piano and guitar fiddling, and then it picks up again and becomes the most powerful song on the record. Unbelievable!
10) Arpeggiated guitar chords and then Latin-style strumming with pounding drums and a driving vocal rhythm. Full-on electronic madness in the middle.
11) Ah, beautiful voice and guitar, and that’s all they need to convey all the emotion in the world.
12) Masterpiece! Holy crap, this song is so gorgeous, I could die right now! Goes through a bunch of sections, from just meditative guitar strumming, to full-orchestra keyboard wizardry and piano balladry.
13) Probably the only song that really was better with the electronics left intact. Nonetheless, her vocals are stupendous as always, and they make this work.
14) Starts out with a minute of electronic weirdness, and then eerie and sad piano and vocals with some subdued drums that actually sound like thunder. Stunning, really.