Presently decades beyond the youthful beauty of their magnum opus Mandylion, my excitement for the group has vanished in the wake of Beautiful Distortion. Now eight years on from their last release, Its occurred to me how little of The Gathering I know beyond Always... and their aforementioned classic. No longer with the vibrant charm of Anneke van Giersbergen leading way, her replacement, the Norwegian Silje Wergeland, has quite a similar temperament, softness and power. Until research before writing, I thought of Anneke's performance as underwhelming and dragged down by the drab and dull character of the accompanying instrumentals.
Sadly, nothing about the record sticks. Mostly unfolding in six minute stints, the eight songs are all mid-tempo strolls across tame, paled atmospheres. Its as if the group are seeking the epic, a beautiful destination manifested through the gentle brooding of its inoffensive instruments. It rarely manifests as such, perhaps We Rise comes close with its gristly guitar pushing some shadowy weight against the light. The rest of the material meanders within itself as softer guitar distortions seek a resonance with the otherwise smooth setting. The dynamic rarely pushes into any interesting territory.
As a form of toned down Post-Rock, these songs simply pool together some passable ideas that dabble and drone in lengthy repetitions where the atmosphere just doesn't amount to much. It gets quite shaky on the last two songs as the worst ideas manifest a rather inoffensive temperament into something quite amateur, reminiscent of a local band who cant hear themselves. My words may be harsh but the music was deafeningly dull, lacking any gusto, spirit or ambition. Its been disappointing but also a reminder to get to know their older records some more. That I can be thankful for!
Rating: 2/10