Gathering, The - Mandylion (1995)^{Release ID: 943}

Where do I start when talking about The Gathering? In terms of gothic metal coming out of the mid to late 1990s, they are one of the groups frequently left behind in a slew of male fronted bands like My Dying Bride, Type O Negative and Paradise Lost. It certainly shouldn't be the case when you consider Anneke van Giersbergen is a truly magnificent voice in gothic metal, as well as the many guest appearances throughout the years in both power metal and progressive metal. And the sound of this album helped influence some of my favourite gothic/doom metal albums of all time, such as Swallow the Sun and Trees of Eternity with its heavy use of darkwave.

And what we end up with on Mandylion is a solid display of control. Anneke could have easily played the "I'm a woman in metal" card and gone for the bombastic, symphonic vocals of Within Temptation's Sharon den Adel that were used two years later on Enter, but rather we have a plainspoken delivery that sounds blunt and bleak, while still allowing for copious amounts of technical proficiency. And what's backing her up? A well balanced, heavily focused doom metal palette that does go heavy on the texture and atmospherics rather than hook or melody, but they are produced with convincing presence and a forward thinking bass line that prevents these sections from becoming played out and uninteresting.

In addition, the songwriting helps with memorability as well. Mandylion is one of the most forward thinking, progressive doom metal albums of the 1990s that I can recall. And yet it features some of the most infectious melodic drives of any of the great 90s doom/gothic metal albums. Anneke's plainspoken delivery makes these songs feel down to earth, as opposed to the bombast of Within Temptation. The drives are simple and match the lyrical content quite well, and many of these songs have a well constructed form making them feel well worth their extended runtimes, especially "Leaves" and "In Motion #2".

In the end, The Gathering are more of a band that I respect more than I like. I will not deny that the quality of Mandylion is very good with its great production and forward thinking songwriting, but I have heard plenty of 2000s and beyond gothic/doom metal that takes the quality of this record and expands upon it. For me, I see this more as a redemption after reviewing (and not very much liking mind you) Within Temptation's debut gothic metal album a couple of years later. I do like this sound and it can be done well. And The Gathering are one of the early influencers of a sound that I really enjoy and respect tremendously.

It’s been quite a while since I last listened to The Gathering’s “Mandylion” but it still serves its purpose nicely. Admittedly I think it sounds a little dated at times which probably comes down to the simplicity of some of the instrumentation but Anneke’s voice never gets old. I don’t think she soars quite as much as I remember her doing on the follow-up album “Nighttime Birds” so the highlights are not quite as spectacular but she certainly carries the band through the slightly flatter moments on this record before really taking off on the last couple of tracks. It’s a very consistent release with no weak tracks. The first half generally receives most of the praise but I think my favourite songs are the last three (the heavily Dead Can Dance influenced title track, the epic “Sand and Mercury” & beautiful closer “In Motion #2”). It’s here that I find the tingles appearing up my spine thanks to Anneke’s stunning performance. The best moments from an instrumental point of view are generally those where there’s a bit more complexity as the more basic sections are where The Gathering start to flatten out a little. It’s the type of album that sneaks up on you though & I find myself wanting to give it repeat listens as it’s really very pleasant on the ears which is a nice change for a metal album. I was pretty close to going for the extra half mark here but I think 4/5 is a fairer assessment of the quality on offer.

For fans of The 3rd & the Mortal, Theatre Of Tragedy & Tiamat.