The Gathering: Nighttime Birds (1997)
In the long, complicated, sonically adventurous, but undoubtedly angry-young-men-dominated history of heavy metal, there have been few artists capable of reducing hardened head-bangers into piles of sensitive, blubbering mush quite like The Gatheringâs Anneke van Giersbergen.
To say that van Giersbergenâs classically-trained soprano helped redefine the role of (and expand opportunities for) women in the macho world of heavy metal is no overstatement â especially within more extreme sub-genres, where â80s pioneers like Doro Pesch and Sabina Classen were few and far between.
And, no, we will NOT be discussing the Great Kat!
Anyway, Anneke certainly altered The Gatheringâs career trajectory, as the Dutch band had struggled to develop a distinctive death/doom sound with their first two, male-fronted LPs (Bart Smits featured on 1992âs Always, Niels Duffhues on â93âs Almost a Dance), until they dared to be different.
With van Giersbergen on board, the new line-up quickly proved the feasibility of this radical study in contrasts via â95âs groundbreaking Mandylion, but I think it was the â97 follow-up, Nighttime Birds, that brought their novel vision and chemistry to full flower, when it was released 25 years ago.
By now you must be thinking: âWill you stop with the set-up, already, and tell us what the hell kind of sonic amalgam youâre talking about?â
OK, OK, Nighttime Birds staples such as âThe May Song,â âNew Moon, Different Day,â and the transcendent title track found a way to blend crushing, doomy power chords, ethereal melodies, psychedelic keyboards, and van Giersbergenâs deliberate, vibrato-laden soprano with incredible ease.
And while the lyrics varied from surprisingly good (the environmental metaphors of âThe Earth is My Witnessâ) to surprisingly lame (âConfusionâ), letâs not forget English was the bandâs second language, and every song here still managed to strike an emotional chord by alternating gothic subtlety and metallic power.
The evocative âKevinâs Telescopeâ teased their next albumâs (the double How to Measure a Planet?) thematic pivot from nature to science, and come stark album-closer âShrink,â Anneke is backed by nothing but mournful piano, hinting that sounds other than metal would soon enter the groupâs lexicon.
Which they most certainly did (alt-rock, trip hop, etc.) on later efforts like 2000âs If_Then_Else, â02âs Black Light District EP and â05âs Souvenirs, all of which yielded compelling songs in a myriad of forms, but seemingly couldnât hold Annekeâs interest enough to forestall her departure in 2007.
Today, Iâm told (though I couldnât confirm) that our heroine has apparently joined the sad parade of reality TV music competition judges in her native Holland?
No matter: the greatest legacy of van Giersbergen and Nighttime Birds was that they both legitimized and incentivized countless heavy metal bands of mostly European and extreme extraction (Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, After Forever, Arch Enemy, etc.) to welcome female musicians into their ranks, and opened the doors of inclusion to another notorious âboys club.â
More The Gathering: Mandylion, How to Measure a Planet?
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