Released between two of my personal tens, the musky symphonic gloom of Always... and the warm, youthful ascension of Mandylion, you'd think I'd know Almost A Dance well right? Sadly, what turned me off back in the day, still revolts me now. Niels Duffhues voice has a piercing nasal shrill so off beat and indifferent from the music, it deafens its beauty. So to does his cadence and shaping of words feel totally out of step. He would be more suited to some played out Arena Rock, Glam Rock local act. Truly not to my taste or The Gathering at all, thank goodness they found Anneke!
The difference now is I've learned to listen past the elements of music that turn you off, and oh boy can that be a task. In no measure has Niels grown on me, tolerance is not the word, quite the opposite. He masks wonderful instrumentals that bridge the bands transition from dingy Doom Metal to the Symphonic driven Alternative Metal that dawned with the eternally stunning voice of Anneke van Giersbergen.
The chemistry bonded between distorted power chords and cheesy Casio Korg synths, perusing basslines and plucked acoustic chords, is here as found on both the other records. Its arrangements often abridges the two, brightening the gloomy temperament and finding emotive chord progressions. It moves to the light alongside a blossoming lead guitar that sails into the sun of glorious gleams of melancholy.
Mostly it holds that middle ground, showcasing the journey the band where on, steadily progressing their ideas, but so to do reworkings of techniques and tropes from Always... arise, as well as some arrangements that would be preformed again on Mandylion. If my words don't make it obvious, I'm astonished I didn't find my way in decades in. The sad reality is though, for all the instrumental wonder, Niels is a blight! That being said, Marike Groot lends her voice again on a few songs and in those moments a blessing is bestowed to know what could of been!
I'd love to hear Almost A Dance without Niels, however now more accustom with the album, I get a sense of a band in a rush. The production is a little loose and sloppy which can be forgiven but the difference in song quality has its dips with the nine minute Her Last Flight and the god awful Nobody Dares. The chemistry can simply drop off on some songs, losing that magical nightly ethereal melancholy. Given that Niels was recruited right around its recording and release, I'd guess some external pressures stained what could of been quite the rendition of one bands moment in time I simply adore.
Rating: 4/10