Home

I am relatively new as a fan of The Gathering, it was last year that I bought my first album of theirs, following the advice of Amazon Alerts: "How to measure a planet", and I was blown away for the ambitious and experimental effort comprised in two cds full of high quality instrumentation, dense soundscapes that reminded me of Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree, a long instrumental-experimental suite, and crowning all of this, the superb voice of their female vocalist: Anneke van Giersbergen, with no doubt one of the most powerful and beautiful female voices in the current rock scenario. Then I purchased "Home", their latest work, and definitely this has been enough for me to declare this Dutch band as one of my favorites. "Home" is mature album, it contains a sophisticated sound that the band have been improving since their album "Mandylion", and definetly, it places this band among the finest "progressive-experimental-sublime-atmospheric" bands today. To clasify them with those words is just a necessary action, one has to name things and persons to identifying them, but let me tell you something: The Gathering's music really defies categorization, it is very creative and makes it very difficult to find one precise adjective to qualify it. Having said that, it is sad to know that their vocalist, Anneke, with whom they have rounded up their musical formula, is leaving and will deliver her final concert in Finland, in August. Will this represent a fallout for the band, or a renaissance? Time will tell.

"Home" would prove to be the last album for The Gathering with incredible vocalist Anneke Van Giersbergen at the helm. Shortly after the US tour in support of the album she announced that she was leaving the band. The album itself is another one that although I like it, does not exactly blow me away. It starts out very promising with the great song "Shortest Day". The next two "In Between" and "Alone" are both solid too, but things start to drag a bit as the album goes on. Anneke's vocals are pristine as ever, although seem somewhat restrained on this disc. The accompanying music is all decent, but again there is nothing here instrumentally that blows me away. The use of modern beats and electronics give the album a contemporary feel, and overall the sound is probably more radio friendly than some of the band's earlier works. How much you like this will depend on your personal taste. After seeing the band live on this tour I though a lot of this material came off a lot better in a live setting. I guess the bottom line is that I think this is a solid 3 star album, but I can't rate it much higher than that.

Based on other reviews I've read, I guess I'm lucky not to have been a long time fan. This album is my introduction to the group. This is truely beautiful, well crafted music. The female vocalist is superb. This is like the progressive rock of old only updated for the 21rst century. You get the etheral feel from the vocals and strings. It is music that will send your mind on an adventure to really serene places. This is inspired music. I don't know about their heavier past, but this album is still definately edgy and way beyond pop sensibilities. It is like Europes Beauty & the Beast music without those dreadful beast grunts to come in and ruin everything. When you hear this singer you'll know you are dealing with a fantastic vocal talent. If uninitiated to this group you should definately add this to your collection. Highly recommended.

One way for a band to impress me is to grow and change over the years. I know there are those who would have liked The Gathering to stay stuck in their heavier-sounding period forever--and don't get me wrong, I love those discs too--but a one-trick pony band becomes boring pretty fast. This release is different, not only from earlier releases like Mandylion, but even from Souvenirs, and I think that's a good thing. In my view, this band has never put out a bad record, but a nice variety of very good ones. And I still maintain that Anneke's is the best voice in pop music today!

Having only recently discovered The Gathering I have been scrambling to pick up their albums. For me this is another great album from this band and I highly recommend it, continuing down the road the started with How To Measure a Planet.

I recently purchased this CD after hearing Anneke van Giersbergen do guest vocals on the John Wetton/Geoff Downes collaboration Rubicon II. I am always on the lookout for new music. Anneke had outstanding vocals on that CD as she does with the Gathering on Home. However, besides the quality of her vocals, I just have not been able to connect with the music on this CD. I like a wide range of styles and genres of music, but the problem here is that the songs are not catchy in any way, and pretty much all sound alike. You can have all the talent in the world, but if the songs themselves and the delivery are marginal, you are not going to sell a lot of records. Maybe I should have started with another release by the Gathering, but this one doesn't move me in any way. I give it two stars for the talent of the vocalist.