Customer Reviews

Nighttime Birds (Dlx)

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Seems fitting on the 10th year anniversary to reissue this one from a band that was just ahead of the wave of female fronted metal bands of the late 90's. I started with Almost A Dance, then got Mandylion (1995), and now the new double disc package of Nighttime Birds is finally here!

One of the first so called female fronted metal bands of the mid 90's, the Gathering first featured vocals by Martine van Loon, who performed on Almost A Dance a few years earlier, but not really at the forefront of many songs, it was a brief tease of things to come perhaps.

Anneke van Giersbergen fronted the band for 1995's Mandylion, and this was to me just such a wonderful album with great passion and wonderful musicianship. 1997's Nighttime Birds, continues this formula and cements them to me as the first and best to perfect this style of haunting somewhat symphonic metal featuring female vocals throughout.

Faves include "Third Chance" (love this song), it has a more streamlined chugging vibe to it, and the alternate version featured on Disc 2 is just as good I think. "The May Song" is another one along with "Confusion", and I like the vocal delivery at times on the song "New Moon, Different Day", Anneke stretches her vocals here in a segment to a slightly opera style I guess you'de perhaps call it that raises any eyebrow, and it's a really good song of course.

That there is a second disc included seals the deal for me, some nice bonus material here, some Instrumentals and covers etc. that give a slightly different dimension to the Gathering. 10 years and still sounding better than any other clones to jump on the bandwagon over the years. I also recommend Lacuna Coil, Tristania, and of course can't forget Liv Kristine and Theatre Of Tragedy also along with the Gathering, these groups carved out a very important and exciting part of music history, and that it happened in the the hard rock/metal field is a wonderful accomplishment given all the styles that existed at the time.

Pick up any Gathering release from Mandylion on and you will be equally treated to some very fine music. Almost A Dance is a slight precursor to this style, but it's not even close to what they were doing on Mandylion and Nightime Birds.

First we had the reissue of Mandylion with valuable bonus tracks and a second cd with alternate versions of the songs, and now we have Nightime Birds, also accompanied by a second cd bonus tracks consisting in radio edits and live versions of some of the songs. Given the fact that both cds inaugurated the band's period with fabulous singer Anneke van Giersbergen, who is now gone from the band, leaving them with a huge challenge of reingenering, we have with both albums the opportunity of reviewing the construction of an original style of rock music, defined first as doom or death metal, it turns out that the music offered in these cds defy those labels. Yes, there is a strong massive guitar sound that approaches the band to some sort of heavy metal, but it is accompanied by a fine work of keyboards that serve the purpose of creating a peculiar sound that at times nears an operatic quality, and other times it reaches a delicate cadence with soothing electric guitar atmospherics and even piano harmonic touches! The good thing is that the Gathering kept evolving from here without losing the seal that they managed to fabricate in these two albums. I remember that in an interview with Anneke van Giersbergen the expression "Dream Rock" trascended in order to define what they were aiming at musically. Labels will not represent fully the richness of a band's ouput that is so original. The second cd of Nighttime Birds brings two interesting covers: Dead Can Dance¨s "In power we entrust the love advocated", and Slowdive's "When the sun hits". These covers are interesting not only for the dexterity showed by the band and Anneke van Giersbergen of assuming with their style those two distinct songs of two definitive bands in the creation of a sort of "ambient rock", but also for showing the orientation of their music interest, that later would turn in an exploration of earlier psychodelia and progressive rock, such as the works the likes of Pink Floyd, Camel and King Crimson. Definetly, the price of this cd is too cheap to own such a gem.

What a fantastic album. It bridges several genres, from metal to goth to shoegaze, in a wonderfully seamless way. The female vocals are superb and at times hauntingly beautiful. I only wish the recent plethora of this band's imitators was as good (only Leaves' Eyes comes close, and even they are more traditionally viking-metal oriented).

A MUST FOR ALL EARS STILL OPEN TO REAL MUSIC ......

One that will stun you first time round and never let you go.... Ever! Hard to believe their first Album with Anneke ,Mandylion , came out just a year or so before. Much of that at first underwhelmed me , maybe down to some overlong tracks that somehow didnt let Anneke's vocals to really cut loose at full intensity like she does here. And how-few if any can say so much in so few words, or with such sustained passion.

One UK review called this a more "aggressive" album . But that's so completely the wrong word. Assertive anger and anguish in "The Earth Is My Witness" , yes - this is a dynamic , inventive and inspired album, but no way one violent in tone. More an out of this world Shamanic Journeying almost zen-like feel, not least in the opener "On most surfaces (Inuit)", "The Earth Is My Witness" and the Title Track itself . In other words this is the album ,way more than Mandylion, where the band really evolves to the full power of its "Trip Rock" maturity.

...BUT WHICH VERSION??

Amazon sell both a 1997 and a 2007 edition. As you might guess from the 2 prices, 1997 is the 9 -track original single CD. 2007 is a Special Edition double with no less than 20 extra tracks of both demo and live versions of most of the originals, plus a couple of instrumentals and live show covers of other bands . These are also on their "Accessories"album, but unless you already have that ,then the extras are well worth the extra.

Last , I would normally never bother to comment on any "packaging",good or bad. But I just have to here ,the 2007 pack is a masterpiece in its own right. If CD player or power were ever to fail, you'd still be left with a superb book of Anneke's short almost haiku-like poetry in the midst of some sublime photography!

In this album The gathering shows what is called music. Atmospheric metal ate their best. All the tracks are amazing. The production is one of the best i have ever noticed. The feeling by hearing this songs are amazing. The guitars the vocals the drums -> are all perfect. maybe this album is the best they have ever released. They did an amazing work with Mandylion but with this work they are perfect. More better it cannot be done. A must for fans of atmospheric metal (its not depressing -> it makes you feel free). I cant describe anything else. Just buy this magic album.

I was buying "West Pole" and tripped over this, and being in a Gathering mood, decided I had to have it, and I'm glad I did. I did not add any of the alternative or live tracks to my playlist, but I found both versions of "Most Surfaces" to be essential, and of the additional tracks, "Adrenaline" and "Sun Hits" fit right in.

It also reminds one what a devastating CD this was, surely their high water mark if you like the "crunchy" side of the band. All the Gathering CD's starting with "Mandylion" are completely worth having, first class stuff without exception, a remarkable run, but usually this is where the cursor lands for me.

If you have never owned a Gathering CD then this one or Mandylion are good ones to start with. With this reissue you get a whole bunch of bonus tracks, so if you are into that then you'll love it but it is worth it for just the original album. As the Gathering move forward after this album the albums become more experimental and the album HOME (the latest at the time of this review) is almost more like Depeche Mode but the music is just as amazing. How to measure a planet came after Nighttime Birds, it is a double and very good as well.

I got interested in Female Fronted Metal from Europe just about 2 years ago. It started with Lacuna Coil and Nightwish and more recently Within Temptation. All have their own style but all are great bands. Nightwish is a little more Symphonic metal but I love ONCE and the songs NEMO and SIREN are amazing. Within Temptations Mother Earth is a great starter album for them, or The Heart Of Everything. I have wondered if Amy Lee of Evanescence was listening to these bands when they released their first album or if they just sound similar by chance. They are the closest thing in US bands that I am aware of (correct me if I am wrong). The american band Anti-M has a few songs on their latest album Damage that remind me of Nighttime Birds. Check out the songs DAMAGE IN THE DREAM (similar to NEW MOON, DIFFERENT DAY) and RAGE.

By far I think my favorite tracks on Nighttime Birds are The Earth Is My Witness, New Moon, Different Day, Kevin's Telescope and Nighttime Birds.

Enough Said, this album is fantastic.