This is truly a special event for me. Not to say I can find a negative in everything-- I am actually quite the optimist-- but a negative, no matter how small, seems to pop up when I write these reviews. If I had written this review nine months ago, I might have had a "con" to list. But I didn't, so I don't. Marillion might have the Album of the Year status for me in 2001, but Holland's The Gathering and their latest effort, If_Then_Else hold the honors of Album of the Year for 2000.

Now I'll just say this right off the bat: I love female singers, I absolutely love them. I especially love them in the metal genre. Why? I think it has something to do with the lush, beautiful sound of a woman's voice coupled with the somewhat louder, harsher sound of heavy metal. It applies to my fondness for other female fronted metal bands such as Lacuna Coil and Theatre of Tragedy. It sort of comes out like a Yin/Yang scenario, one complements the other.

The Gathering, as of this writing, are the masters of this craft. Beginning in 1989 with founding members Bart Smits (vocals), Rene Rutten (guitars), Jelmer Wiersma (guitars), Frank Boeijen (keyboards), Hugo Prinsen Geerligs (bass), and Hans Rutten (drums) the band actually began as a death metal outfit, featuring such songs as "Six Dead, Three To Go" (off of their 1990 demo An Imaginary Symphony) and "In Sickness and Health" (from the Moonlight Archer demo in 1991).

Their second full length release Almost A Dance, in 1993 saw them begin to stray from their Death Metal roots, offering a sound closer to 1995's Mandylion, than their previous efforts. This was also the first album to feature female vocals in a lead role. Coupled with Niels Duffhues, Martine van Loon was the female counterpart to the lead vocal duties. However, differences between herself and Niels caused both members to leave after just one album, opening the doors to the greatest thing to happen to the band thus far.

1995 saw Mandylion, the band's most complete work to date and saw the entrance of frontwoman Anneke Van Giersbergen. Since then the band has been moving ever upward, going from more straightforward heavy metal with Mandylion and Nighttime Birds (which incidentally was the last album with second guitarist Jelmer Wiersma) to an experimental, almost psychedelic theme in their early 1999 release How to Measure A Planet?, and finally to the main focus of this review, If_Then_Else.

You're more than welcome to go and check all of my previous music reviews here at Epinions, if you'd like. You will find not one single review that doesn't have at least one "con" listed, no matter how small it may be. This album, produced by Attie Bauw, has no cons. No matter what mood one is in, there is something to be here that they will like, probably love.

The album begins in good form with Rollercoaster, a song seemingly about the band and where they're moving.

You're all moving too fast
My biggest fear is
that we'll never ever last

I know, it's not that easy
Let's hit the brakes

Anneke's voice is the best it has ever been, with overdubs and the like lending to an already high quality set of pipes.

Shot To Pieces would have been my only con had I wrote this nine months ago. It's probably the "rockiest" of the songs here, with a steady beat and some crunchy guitars. When I first heard it, I didn't care at all for it and proceeded to always skip it upon further listenings. However, one day I decided I'd give it a chance and I've never looked back.

Amity, track three has got to be my favorite song of the album. The smoothness of the drum loops and sustained guitar alongside the angelic beauty of Anneke's voice can only be described as magical. Maybe trite, maybe, but no better word can sum up what The Gathering have been able to do here.

I lay in the hands of my maker
and I want to spend the rest of it awake
Why do I get the feeling they'll brake it
It's a fight...it's a fight...

Tracks four, five, and six Bad Movie Scene, The Colorado Incident, and Beautiful War continue to impress, the first starting slow and coming to a crashing conclusion. When I first heard the title The Colorado Incident I groaned thinking that they wanted to make a song dedicated to the sickening High School shootings that we have all been trying to forget. However, the song is actually about a show that was supposed to be played in Colorado during their "How To..." tour that had to be canceled at the last minute. The fans there were outraged and sent many a nasty letter to the band. The band responded in kind on the website, and in this song (more info on this can be found on their website www.gathering.nl under the underneath the mask... section).

Analog Park, track seven, is another one of those songs, much like Amity that just has the coolest vibe to it. The entire picture pulls together so well, from the drums (not loops this time) to the bass to the vocals, everything is blended seemlessly.

Herbal Movement seems to be the band's (or at least Anneke's) entry into the world of drug induced lyric writing. This song is, for lack of a better term, a trip. I wouldn't begin to condone her potential use of mind-altering substances but at least the song didn't turn into a disaster (remember how much of an optimist I said I was before? :)

The fabric softener of the mind
makes everything easy
and we slide down

Slide over, you

The album's next two songs, Saturine and Morphia's Waltz lend themselves to the other very well and the listener can tell that the band put a lot of time and consideration into song placement. Saturine's slightly pop influenced structure and Morphia's Waltz's acoustic driven tale about the birth of a child are both fantastic, the latter being my second favorite song on the album.

Finally the album concludes with its second instrumental (Beautiful War being the first) with Pathfinder a song that progresses like the soundtrack for a dream featuring guest appearances by J.Slotboom on cello, B.v. Vegchel on french horn, and A. Verspaandonk on trombone. This four and a half minute tune is the perfect way to end what I can honestly consider the perfect album.

Fin

Perfect is such a strong word. It means that there is not one flaw in it. I'm sure someone could find something they don't like but as of this review, I would be hardpressed to. The Gathering have taken their influences from the fields of Death Metal, Rock, Pop and beyond and created their own sound, something that is all their own. Anyone who listens to this masterpiece will agree that The Gathering have indeed, trite saying and all, created something magical.

For more information on the band, go to their official homepage at: www.gathering.nl

COMMENTS ARE ENCOURAGED AND APPRECIATED






Recommended: Yes