HOME

Summer 2007 The Gathering shocked the world by announcing the split with singer Anneke van Giersbergen. That made Home retrospectively the swansong of the collaboration, but what a magnificent swansong it was!

Clocking at an hour, Home is as well an inspired journey through different moods as one of the softest records of this amazing Dutch band. "Soft" is a relative word however: the direct sound dynamics are relatively low, but atmospherically the record takes quite some different turns. New bassist Marjolein Kooijman is quite present, but we can also see that, more than in any previous record, Anneke's voice is used as an instrument as well.

Like Souvenirs, this record hardly has anything to do with "metal" (although I feel the new label "Experimental / Post Metal" is slightly more appropriate than the old container category "Progressive Metal"). The music is a tad more spacy and less trip-like than Souvenirs, showing the band still took the word 'progressive' quite literal.

To me, Home is their best record since Mandylion, with Anneke apparently bookending her career with the band with the highlights. Both go their separate ways and while writing I'm curious for The Gathering with new vocalist(s) (new record in 2008?) and Anneke's new band Agua de Annique. This little diamond however stays with us.