The Gathering

The Gathering, the innovative band from Oss, the Netherlands, formed in 1989 and came to fame in the second half of 1990s with its unique blend of atmospheric sound, progressive elements and the compelling vocals of former singer Anneke van Giersbergen. The highly acclaimed and influential Dutch band the Gathering is finally back releasing their 9th studio album: The West Pole. It has been 3 years since the bands last release Home and with their singer over 13 years Anneke van Giersbergen leaving the band in 2007, the band set their sails for a fresh new era. The band (celebrating their 20th anniversary this year) has during their past 8 studio albums showed that they have never been afraid of changing and evolving their musical style. The West Pole, with new singer Silje Wergeland, shows the Gathering is still standing amongst the pioneers of alternative rock music as they always have! After van Giersbergen leaving, the band started working on new songs and finding new singers. With finding Silje Wergeland from Norway the band again completed the line up. Silje has been the singer of the Norwegian band Octavia Sperati for 8 years including several other projects. The West Pole also includes two very talented guest singers: the Dutch Anne van den Hoogen and Mexican Marcela Bovio (from Stream of Passion). The West Pole is a very vital, atmospheric and extravert rock orientated album, with all the quality and power the Gathering is so famous for, also with many new elements. The sound is guitar driven, alive and urgent; a strong and beautifully coloured album with haunting female vocals. It’s produced by guitar player René Rutten and mixed & mastered by Zlaya Hadzich, who also did the production of Souvenirs. The West Pole is nothing less than a piece of masterwork! Extended chronological biography Their first two albums, Always... (1992) in the death metal/doom metal style of the era and Almost a Dance (1993) that, though always regarded as a failure, played a part in the formation of gothic metal, were recorded with four different vocalists. Their subsequent release, Mandylion (1995), on which Anneke van Giersbergen sang for the first time, was a dark, haunting, and emotional piece of music. It was also one of the first albums of its kind in respect to female fronted metal bands, and it is still considered a standard by many female fronted metal bands. Their following studio albums Nighttime Birds (1997), How To Measure A Planet? (1998), If_then_else (2000) and Souvenirs (2003) showed progress and maturation of the band. There is also an electro-acoustic live album Sleepy Buildings: A Semi Acoustic Evening, which was released in 2004, and was followed by a similar semi-acoustic tour. Their 8th studio album, Home, was released in April 2006. The Gathering has promoted this album with a tour and festivals for the rest of 2006-2007. Last March 24th, in Santiago, Chile, the band recorded a live DVD entitled "A Noise Severe" more rock oriented, to complete the previously released DVD "A Sound Relief", which featured a more acoustic set. It is scheduled to be released on October 31th 2007. It was released with little delay at the end of November 2007, together with live 2CD from same place. On June 5, 2007 it was announced that Anneke is going to leave The Gathering in August 2007 to focus on a new project, Agua de Annique and her family. The Gathering's 9th studio album, The West Pole is scheduled for European release in early May 2009, and features their new lead vocalist Silje Wergeland along with guest vocals from Marcela Bovio and Anne van den Hoogen. http://www.gathering.nl