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Musicians:
- Frank
Boeijen
- Anneke
van Giersbergen
- Hugo
Prinsen Geerligs
- Hans
Rutten
- René
Rutten
Spoken words ‘Black Light District’ by Sarah Jezebel
Deva
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- Release : juni 2002
- Label :
Phychonaut records
- Total
time:
24'30''
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Website:
- www.gathering.nl
of www.gathering.fr.st
- Contact:
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Tracklijst:
- Black
Light District 16’22 - Debris 4’35 - Broken Glass (piano
version) 3’32
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An
EP for the fans after 12 ½ years of existence.
As Anneke (vocals) and Hans (drums) stated: “A band that’s not
developing and doesn’t seek for changes, doesn’t live”. That’s
something which is not going to happen to The Gathering. What a change to
their earlier material and what a development.
I didn’t know that there was a deeper shade of dark then “no lights”,
but after this EP, I know there is, it’s “Black Light”. And I don’t
mean anything negative by this remark, on the contrary, it’s a
masterpiece. Especially the first song, “Black Light District”.
Starting off with a long piano intro, which at first seems too long, but
once you know the song, you understand it’s necessary to build the
atmosphere of the number. When the drums join in, the piano speeds up, but
the dark feeling stays the same. From between these sounds, comes suddenly
the voice of Sarah Jezebel Deva. She did backing vocals for Therion and also
sung with Cradle Of Filth. She doesn’t use her opera voice here, but
she’s only speaking the words, with a beautiful voice and a very good
English tongue. While she’s speaking, Anneke joins in, a sort of canon
between sung and spoken words. Then we even get a guitar solo, but again,
it’s not really a guitar solo but another building stone for the dark
environment. The next few minutes consist of a heavy noise with rough edges,
a sound that I’m not used to hear from The Gathering, but that fits very
well into the song. After 12 minutes, they arrive at a piece that you can
call the chorus. She sings “It clogs my throat”, “I am speechless”.
I couldn’t have said it better, that what’s the song makes me feel. The
song ends with a similar piano as in the intro.
“Debris” is a short but heavy song. Again they sound heavier, more
mature, then before. A catchy chorus, with hit potential, if only it could
get some airplay.
“Broken Glass” is a piano version of a song that will appear on their
next full-CD that will be released in January 2003. If this is the prequel
for the full-CD, it’s very promising. Anneke sings at her best (I never
heard her sing that high) and the song is also of a very high quality.
There’s also a CD-ROM part, which features some
clips from the recordings of the EP and a video-rockumentary.
But the most important part is the music, of course. The only critics I
have, is that for our site, it’s not really prog, but who cares, most of
the progmusic lovers love The Gathering. And which label you put on it
doesn’t matter, as long as you like it, and you will like this one.
Bespreking: Danny 'Camil' Focke
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