MANDYLION - 1995 / THE GATHERING

Nuevo artículo para METAL HAMMER ESPAÑA, en la sección de reportajes. Es mi aportación número once, y esta vez se trata de MANDYLION, el conocido tercer disco de los holandeses THE GATHERING.

Enlace a la revista aquí, y traducción al final del texto en español. Esta vez también hay que tener en cuenta lo que explico aquí abajo, ya que no aparece en la revista:

MANDYLION - 1993 / METAL HAMMER ESPAÑA

*Poco después de terminar la crítica y enviarla a los responsables, he podido echar un vistazo a la edición que celebra el aniversario número treinta del disco (apareció en Agosto de 1995) y que vende el propio grupo a través de su página web. Se trata de una caja con cuatro vinilos y un pequeño libro con anécdotas, comentarios y fotos de miembros del grupo, y también de gente ajena al mismo. No entiendo por qué no hay esa misma reedición en CD, al menos de momento, pero el caso es que, dejando a un lado el material extra a encontrar, dichas anécdotas y explicaciones sobre los temas son algo que me hubiese gustado incluir en la crítica. Como ya no hay tiempo para eso, lo incluyo aquí, y lo señalaré con un asterisco cada vez que aparezca algo de esto en la versión en inglés.

HANS RUTTEN, el batería, cuenta en un prólogo que tras el segundo disco del grupo, The Gathering se tomaron un año sabático en cuanto a tocar en directo. Mientras, se dedicaron a ensayar y buscar un nuevo cantante, pero él y su hermano (RENÉ, guitarra) hicieron el servicio militar, y durante nueve meses sólo pudieron practicar los sábados. Finalmente llegó ANNEKE, y Hans comenta lo concentrados que estaban en el nuevo material que les estaba saliendo, y lo claro que tenían cómo sería el siguiente disco, hasta el punto de que hasta seis canciones estaban ya escritas antes de la llegada de la cantante quien, según él, dio al grupo un empujón tremendo con su voz.

El propio Hans recuerda cómo su hermano estaba entusiasmado con un nuevo riff que había escrito y que a él le parecía muy simple y aburrido. René perseveró y empezó a escribir otros riffs que acabarían convirtiéndose en STRANGE MACHINES, no antes de que el grupo cambiase el tempo de los mismos para que todo encajase. René recuerda cómo clavaron este tema en unas pocas horas, durante el primer día de grabación del disco.

FRANK BOEIJEN, el teclista, dice que todos tenían en mente una temática muy fílmica después de haber visto la película SCHINDLER'S LIST (STEVEN SPIELBERG, 1993), basada en ciertas deprimentes imágenes sobre fábricas, etc, relacionadas con la cinta. De dicha temática salió ELÉANOR, aunque Frank reconoce que el nombre no tiene nada que ver con la letra y que sólo sonaba bien al emparejarlo con la música. También dice que Eleanor era el nombre de la hija de SAM en THE LORD OF THE RINGS, la famosa obra de J.R.R. TOLKIEN, a la que el grupo debe ser muy aficionado, ya que ésta no es la última referencia al respecto en el disco. Además, Frank dice que las partes con doble bombo del tema son una atemorizada respuesta a la impresión causada por la película de Spielberg.

IN MOTION I fue la primera canción grabada con Anneke, y Frank recuerda lo boquiabiertos que quedaron al escucharla cantar. Dice que el estribillo es un guiño a la temprana escena Shoegaze británica (un estilo con el que supongo que The Gathering tienen bastante en común desde hace años), pero que un grupo como DEAD CAN DANCE también supuso una influencia importante, y supongo que ésta no termina aquí. Frank también reconoce que, de tener que regrabar este tema, lo recortarían un poco.

Hans y Frank consideran que LEAVES es la canción más romántica que el grupo ha escrito, con una letra bastante personal sobre una relación que termina (e intentando el grupo que el conjunto no sonase cursi). También dicen que el vídeo (con imágenes en el Vaticano, en un bosque holandés y en un concierto, también en Países Bajos) es el mejor de su carrera.

Edición que celebra el treinta cumpleaños de Mandylion

JELMER WIERSMA, el segundo guitarrista, fue el máximo responsable detrás de FEAR THE SEA, hasta el punto de que todos conocían este tema como THE JELMER'S SONG. Hans también habla de la afición de Jelmer por un grupo (escocés, creo) llamado THE COCTEAU TWINS, cuya influencia se supone que se deja notar en el tema. Recuerdo haber escuchado un tema de este grupo, ALICE, ya que aparecía en una película de PETER JACKSON llamada LOVELY BONES (2009), y si toda la música del grupo es de ese estilo, este paralelismo no lo pillo. Esta canción fue la última que escribieron para Mandylion, y tiene muchos cambios y cosas distintas, y el grupo la considera importante, a pesar de que hay quien la considera algo extraño dentro del disco. La letra trata sobre la situación geográfica de Países Bajos y su lógico miedo al mar.

El tema título, MANDYLION, es un homenaje a HAROLD GLOUDEMANS, un amigo del grupo entonces recientemente fallecido (al final de los créditos se dice que todo el disco lo es, y la escasa letra del siguiente corte es muy gráfica al respecto). Fue escrito por Frank y René mientras estaban en otro grupo llamado DIEP TRIEST, y no tiene nada que ver con el resto del disco. Esta canción sería la rara, por así decirlo, de haber alguna, y no Fear The Sea, verdad? Es un tema que se inclina seriamente hacia el estilo conocido como World Music, y es aquí donde la influencia de los ya mencionados Dead Can Dance es más obvia. En los créditos aparece René como responsable de una flauta, así que supongo que eso es lo que aparece al principio de Mandylion.

Harold falleció el trece de Agosto de 1994.

Hans considera SAND & MERCURY la obra maestra del disco, y ésta consiste en tres partes que provenían de otras tantas canciones distintas. En cuanto a la parte más heavy, el batería habla de cierto aire a CELTIC FROST incluso, pero con una cierta majestuosidad, y reconoce que la parte final le sigue dando escalofríos. Habla de que la idea musical era algo así como perseguir ballenas, por muy estúpido que suene, pero que al escribir intentan rescatar imágenes, sonidos y olores, y hacerlos lo más tangibles posibles. Este tema solía cerra los shows del grupo en esta gira y en la del siguiente álbum, y es aquí donde hay más contenido relacionado con Tolkien, pero el grupo no comenta nada al respecto. Pensaron en cerrar el disco con esta canción, pero decidieron hacerlo con IN MOTION II, que es como una combinación de varios elementos del disco en una solo tema. Hans dice que fue un gran momento para ellos cuando se dieron cuenta de que el estribillo de la primera parte encajaba perfectamente aquí (quizás por eso ambas canciones terminaron llamándose igual), y reconoce que en el grupo siempre han sido unos románticos. Por eso, los dos temas son, en esencia, un vals.

La formación de Mandylion, en 2025: diría que el de la izquierda es Jelmer;
René, Anneke, Frank, Hans y Hugo, verdad?

Tras hablar de las canciones, entran en escena cuatro personajes ajenos a The Gathering, con sus impresiones sobre el grupo, este disco, y la época en la que salió. Se trata de ULA GEHRET, de Century Media, SIGGI BEMM, coproductor de Mandylion, el periodista ROBERT HAAGSMA, y FRANK HARTHOORN, guitarrista y miembro fundador de los también holandeses GOREFEST.

Ula llevaba meses trabajando como publicista en Century Media, y recuerda ser ya fan del grupo cuando empezó el verano de 1995. Sabía que habían fichado a una nueva cantante y se preguntaba qué cara de The Gathering aparecería en el tercer disco, ya que el primero le gustó, pero el segundo le había dejado perplejo. Dice que en cuanto recibieron una copia no les quedó ninguna duda acerca de la cantante o de la calidad de Mandylion; el disco soñado para un publicista como él, al ser algo en lo que crees completamente. A pesar de todo, costó conseguir que la gente escuchara a un grupo cuyos dos primeros discos habían conocido una distribución muy pobre.

Siggi destaca la mentalidad tan abierta del grupo y su capacidad para conseguir mucho con poco, además de su cordialidad y de que fueran como una familia. Grandes recuerdo, en resumen.

Robert coincide con Ula en lo relativo a los dos primeros trabajos, y recuerda haber sentido la manera en la que el grupo perdió el favor de prensa y fans tras el segundo. Dice que recuperó la esperanza al escuchar In Motion I, ya con la nueva cantante, como adelanto del tercer disco. Anneke le dejó impresionado, pero también la música, que les sirvió no sólo para recuperar terreno, sino para convertirse en un fenómeno internacional. Recuerda haber entrevistado a los Rutten y a Anneke, poco después de editarse Mandylion, y notar su emoción por un nuevo comienzo.

Frank recuerda cómo Gorefest tenían que tocar en Tilburg a finales de Diciembre de 1994, en un show en el que eran cabezas de cartel. Dice que aún estaba cenando cuando otro miembro de Gorefest, BOUDEWIJN BONEBAKKER, le dijo que The Gathering tenían una nueva cantante y que tenía que verla ya. Recuerda que escaleras arriba escuchó a Anneke cantando Strange Machines y que se le pusieron los pelos de punta, algo que se repite a día de hoy debido al recuerdo de ese momento. También admite haber visto el resto de la actuación (el segundo concierto del grupo con Anneke) con la boca abierta, y no recordar ni un solo momento de la de Gorefest, en cambio. Habla de cómo compartieron algunos conciertos más mientras The Gathering promocionaban Mandylion, y también de la melancolía del disco y los recuerdos que le trae. Un disco muy emocional para él, y uno de los pocos clásicos del metal en su país, según su opinión.

Los créditos del disco señalan que el propio grupo coprodujo Mandylion, y que el artwork pertenece a ellos y a un tipo alemán llamado CARSTEN DRESCHER. En los agradecimientos aparecen tres de los cuatro anteriores cantantes (falta Van Loon), y también Gorefest, entre muchos otros.

Todo esto en cuanto al disco en sí. Hay mucho más.

The Gathering en 1995. De izquierda a derecha, René, Frank,
 Anneke, Hans, Hugo y Jelmer

Lo que sigue es un disco en directo con seis canciones: dos se grabaron en el festival del que ya hablé (Eléanor y Leaves), y la tercera es una versión de Strange Machines mucho más tardía (nueve de Noviembre de 2014, en el DOORNROOSJE de Nijmegen); en la segunda cara están In Motion I y otra vez Leaves, grabadas en 1995 (ocho de Octubre, en el PARADISO de Amsterdam), y finalmente aparece otra versión de Strange Machines, esta vez grabada en 1996 (trece de Febrero, también en el Paradiso), con la orquesta METROPOLE.

Y por último, hay un doble disco con maquetas y caras B's que incluye catorce temas y además algún comentario de la propia Anneke. Me gustaría decir que no soy muy aficionado a las maquetas; o quizás no se trate de eso y simplemente me valga con el producto final, que la inmensa mayoría de veces suena mejor. Pero la verdad es que lo que he escuchado aquí me encanta.

En el primer disco podemos encontrar un instrumental llamado SOLAR GLIDER, la primera parte de In Motion, Mandylion y dos tomas instrumentales de Eléanor y Fear The Sea. Solar Glider me encanta. Tiene teclados, claro, pero es muy potente, y por mucho que me encanten las ocho canciones del disco, ésta podía haber sustituido a dos o tres de ellas perfectamente. Anneke comenta que se escribió antes de llegar ella, y que se descartó por ser demasiado alegre en comparación con el resto del disco, aunque eso no es algo que yo comparta. Como otros temas, éste quedó guardado para futuros trabajos, pero en este caso, la canción no se volvió a usar. En cuanto a In Motion I, ella recuerda que ese tema supuso su primera vez con el grupo en un estudio, y la concentración de todo el mundo, pero a la vez las risas y las estupideces posteriores que hicieron, siendo aún un grupo de chavales. Estos cinco temas son de Junio de 1994 (Veinticinco y veintiséis, en los holandeses estudios BEAUFORT, de Bovenkarspel), y fueron grabados por HAN SWAGERMAN.

Además aparecen In Motion II, Strange Machines y Leaves, grabadas en Oss, también en 1994 (cinco y seis de Noviembre en los estudios POPKOLLEKTIEF), con la mediación de OSCAR HOLLEMAN. Con respecto a la primera, Anneke cuenta que intentaron que Frank participase en los estribillos con algunas palabras recitadas, pero eso se quedó fuera de la grabación. Hans comenta que esta toma de Strange Machines es la primera de la canción en estudio. Dice que ya la habían tocado antes en directo, y que cada vez la hacían más rápido, hasta encontrar en tempo correcto a escuchar en el disco. René es quien colabora con algunas voces de apoyo.

En cuanto al segundo disco, éste empieza con las caras B ya mencionadas en la crítica, Adrenaline y Third Chance, que son las que aparecieron en el single de Leaves, editado en Mayo de 1996. Se grabaron en unos pocos días (del treinta al tres) entre Marzo y Abril de 1996, en los estudios RS 29 de Waalwrijk, y una vez más fue Holleman quien se encargó de la grabación.

El resto siguen siendo maquetas: Eléanor, In Motion II, Fear The Sea y Third Chance, grabadas en los DOUBLE NOISE de Tilburg a principios de 1995, por HANS TIMMERMANS. Sobre la última, Anneke dice que se usó la letra de In Motion I, ya que ella aún no había tenido tiempo de escribir algo decente para el tema. Con algún cambio más, la canción terminó saliendo bien, y ya he dicho que otra mezcla distinta acabaría apareciendo en Nighttime Birds.

Listos para poner las cosas en su sitio

Hasta aquí llega todo lo relativo a esta reedición.

Gracias y hasta pronto!

ENGLISH

Another album reviewed for METAL HAMMER ESPAÑA. This is my eleventh collaboration with them, and now is turn for MANDYLION, the very well known third album by dutch band THE GATHERING.

*Not very long after I finished this review and sent it to the guys at Metal Hammer, I've had the chance to take a closer look to the edition which celebrates the 30th anniversary of the album's release (it came out in August, 1995),  and which is sold by the band itself through its website. We are talking about a boxset with four vinyls and a book with stories, anecdotes and pictures of the band members and some other people as well. I don't know about the reason behind not releasing the same edition on CD, at least for the time being, but the thing is that, leaving the extra stuff aside, said stories and anecdotes are something I wish I had used for my review. Too late for that, so I'll use it here. I will mark with an asterisk every bit which is not on the review and has to do with what I've just said, here in the english version.

*It all starts with a preface written by HANS RUTTEN, the drummer, where he says that The Gathering took a sabbatical when it came to playing live, after the second album. In the meantime, they devoted themselves to rehearsing and trying to find a new singer, but him and his brother (RENÉ, guitar) joined the army for one year, so they could only be available on saturdays for nine months. Eventually along came ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN, and Hans explains how focused they were on the new stuff they were writing, and how clearly had their pictured what their new record was going to be like, to the point that as many as six songs had already been written before Anneke's arrival. The new singer gave them a big and unexpected boost with her voice.

The album's front cover

This is the link to the magazine and the english translation is below:

MANDYLION - 1993 / METAL HAMMER ESPAÑA

LABEL: CENTURY MEDIA

 

RELEASE DATE: 22-08-1995

 

MEMBERS:

RENÉ RUTTEN – Guitar

JELMER WIERSMA – Guitar

FRANK BOEIJEN – Keyboards

HUGO PRINSEN GEERLIGS – Bass

HANS RUTTEN – Drums

ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN – Vocals

 

TRACKS:

STRANGE MACHINES

ELEANOR

IN MOTION I

LEAVES

FEAR THE SEA

MANDYLION

SAND

IN MOTION II

VIDEOS:

STRANGE MACHINES

ELEANOR

SAND & MERCURY

IN MOTION II

Before I started listening to The Gathering I already knew they existed. I did not remember where they were from and I had never worried about them as a band, thinking that their music could not be of my liking. I just knew there was some band called that way. Until a few years back, when I saw, just by chance, a live video of theirs while performing at the PINKPOP FESTIVAL in the nineties (Landgraaf, The Netherlands, on the 26th of May, 1996). The first time I thought it was kind of funny to see that enormous and frenzied crowd paying attention to the music and to the music only, in a time when there were no cell phones, or at least they were not everywhere. I also found the singer quite capable, being as young as she looked. I thought her voice was amazing, in fact. And it was weird to see her smiling face, which contrasted the audience and the kind of music on display. The look on her face was one of joy, and also of surprise, as if she thought it was strange that so many people had gathered to see her and her band. I just could not help watching the video once again on the next day, to truly focus on the song itself, and after a few more listenings, I was hooked. What I did after that was watching some more videos from that performance, and they only confirmed that the very good impression I had gotten with the first one wasn't coincidental. To my surprise, for it surely isn't the kind of music I usually listen the most to. 

Jelmer, Anneke, Hugo (closer), Frank, René and Hans,
 from left to bottom. 

This is a brave band, and quite a consistent one when it comes to match their music with the ideas its members have in mind at any given moment, despite that consistency made them to be increasingly removed from the heavy metal realm, a field to which they have for long only been linked to because of their first four albums, and little else. But I do not think that something like that has meant that their early followers have turned their backs on them, as good as they are at facing every little change which saw them go from gothic/doom metal (they were pigeonholed at first as a death/doom band, but their early music does not match the idea of that style I have in mind, if the sound of some other death/doom bands I know are to be taken into consideration) to the very difficult to tag sort of music they have been playing for very long.

They do have as many as twelve studio albums so far, although I have only listened to three of them. Enough to develop a definitely strange respect for this band, and even more if we keep in mind that those three records I mean, are the ones which link the band's beginnings with the music it started playing right  before the turn of the century. The evolution from one to another is remarkable, but natural at the same time, as if they had always known that The Gathering were expected to move forward in a direction they already had in mind, and had thought about each step carefully and in advance.

STRANGE MACHINES - LIVE / 26-05-1996, PINKPOP FESTIVAL, THE NETHERLANDS

Given that the last 22nd of August marked the 30th anniversary of its release, I'll take advantage of it to talk about Mandylion, their best known album, most likely. It also is the one which put them on the map and the first of those three I just mentioned. But, above all, Mandylion is the record to which the singer I first talked about was signed for: the outstanding Anneke Van Giersbergen.

 

This band (from Oss and Nijmegen, The Netherlands) was born in 1989, and from that moment, until almost the mid nineties, released some demos and a couple of albums. The first one, ALWAYS... (1992), with a singer called BART SMITS at the helm, did it ok, I think, but ALMOST A DANCE (released in 1993, and featuring another two different singers, NIELS DUFFHUES and MARTINE VAN LOON, to replace Smits and achieve some balance between a woman's regular vocals and the usual aggression of the genre) was a disappointment, and put the band on the brink of an early splitting up.

There was also another singer (MARIKE GROOT), who arrived soon after and, already in 1994, The Gathering chose to start from scratch again, so to speak, keeping their core members (all five musicians who had been together from the get go) and signing another female singer (Van Giersbergen) who could also handle the lyrics. They joined german giant CENTURY MEDIA and went for a somewhat more accesible sound, thanks to the keyboards (which were already part of their music) and the new singer's privileged voice (no cookie monster singing anymore), but without losing neither the heaviness, nor a certain connection with doom metal, the gothic stuff, or BLACK SABBATH.

In any case, I don't think that depiction does any justice to how Mandylion sounds. On one hand, and in spite of the music being heavy enough, one doesn't think of traditional doom when listening to it, for this record is easier to digest. On the other, Anneke's lyrics are not about happy stuff, not even close. It's weird, but that voice and the music complement each other very well somehow, and this is something which is understood when you get to see the aforementioned performances, in which a smiling girl sings about sad stuff over heavy and quite often dark music.

As I said, Mandylion (said name is a greek byzantine word with no other meaning, which is used to address what's known as the IMAGE OF EDESSA, a piece of cloth with CHRIST's face imprinted on that is considered as christianity's first icon; I do not get the relation between that title and the front cover artwork or the album's content) hit the shelves on the 22nd of August, 1995, through Century Media, with a strange image as the front cover, whose authorship I know nothing about. It was recorded at WOODHOUSE studios in Hagen, Germany, and the production was taken over by SIGGI BEMM and WALDEMAR SORYCHTA, being the latter polish producer known as a guitar player as well, having worked in GRIP INC. along with DAVE LOMBARDO.

A very young and smiling Anneke

Mandylion begins with STRANGE MACHINES, which is the song that The Gathering play in the video I mentioned when I began the review and, if I'm not mistaken, their most famous one. This is a track about time traveling which mentions historical characters and features samples of some dialogues drawn from the film THE TIME MACHINE (directed by GEORGE PAL in 1960, and which itself adapted the 1895 namesake novel by H.G. WELLS), and it could seemengly be the most upbeat and optimistic (music-wise) stuff on the whole record. Despite of said nature, you can find here almost everything that there is to be found on Mandylion, for besides the well known main riff and some other a tad faster sections, there's also an instrumental doomier part which falls like a bombshell on the listenerer, when compared to the rest of the track.

*Hans remembers how enthused his brother was about a new riff he had come up with and which he found quite simple and boring. René soldiered on and started to write some other riffs which eventually became Strange Machines, not before the whole band changed their tempo for all of them to fit together. René recalls how they nailed this track in just a few hours on the very day of recording.

 

If there's something to be missed in Strange Machines and which is all over the place in almost the rest of the tracks, that's gloom, and it begins to be noticed in ELÉANOR, a graver affair with an epic and tremendous beginning, thanks to the keys and the incoming arrival of the axemen and GEERLIGS' bass guitar. Eleanor also features some speedier moments, and a little bit weird section (one of the few times in which Han's double kicks take the spotlight), mostly because of the keyboards that sound like someone ringing a doorbell. But is Anneke who steals the show. And we've only just begun.

*FRANK BOEIJEN, the keyboardist, says they all had in mind a very cinematic theme after watching SCHINDLER'S LIST (STEVEN SPIELBERG, 1993), based on some depressing and gloomy images about factories, etc, related to the film. From said theme Eléanor was born, although Frank admits the name had nothing to do with the lyrics and it only sounded amazing when paired with the music. He also says Eléanor was the name of SAM's daughter in THE LORD OF THE RINGS, the famed book by J.R.R. TOLKIEN, which the members of this band have to be fans of, for this is not the last time it will be talked about. Frank explains that the double bass kicks sections are just a scary answer to the impression provoked by Spielberg's film.

 

Next is IN MOTION's first part, with its keys intro which is replicated soon after by the main riff. This is when melancholy begins to have a grip on the album (Make me cry in vain), and I believe is in songs like these where Anneke's vocals are even more remarkable. This is very good, but there's more and even better. Especially when what comes next is LEAVES. I don't know who came up with the idea for the instrumental middle section (Rene, most likely, being himself the lead guitarist), but that's something that has to be listened to. I know this is an acquired taste and I'm sure there are people who are not into such nostalgia trips like this one and I, for one, don't usually find them that appealing, but the listener will have a difficult time trying to run away from this particular one. It's like Autumn, and all those things that come to mind when thinking about that season, became music. I know this is not the first time someone does (or try to do) something like this, but this section just fends for itself. It almost renders the rest of the song as almost insignificant, when it's also quite good. Because, you know, musicians may have the chops and the singer may be astounding, but a band lives and dies by its songs. The Gathering have them in spades, and they made it clear on this record.

*In Motion I was the first song Anneke recorded with the band, and Frank recalls being open-mouthed when they listened to her singing. The refrain is said to be a nod to the early Shoegaze scene (with which I guess The Gathering have had a lot in common for many years now) in the UK, but a band like DEAD CAN DANCE was also a huge influence, which I guess doesn't end with this track. Frank admits that were they to rerecord this song, they would try to trim it a little bit.

*Hans and Frank consider Leaves the most romantic song they have ever written, with a very personal story about an ending relationship (while trying to not sound cheesy). They also rank the videoclip (shot at the Vatican, in a dutch forest and during a live show, also in The Netherlands) as the best one in their entire career.

Sand & The Gathering

FEAR THE SEA is the song which makes me scratch my head the most, for it seems to be intent on covering almost every single nuance found on Mandylion, Maybe it doesn't completely achieve it, mostly because in this case (given that the same happens in every other track and that doesn't translate into a problem), its lenghty running time makes the song to rank a little bit lower than those which came before it. It's not very long, mind you. when compared with the others, and yet it drags a little bit. But it's still a very convincing tune.

*JELMER WIERSMA, the second guitarist, was the main driving force behind Fear The Sea, to the point this song was known by the whole band as JELMER'S SONG. Hans also comments about Jelmer's liking of a band from Scotland called THE COCTEAU TWINS, whose influence in this track is supposed to be noticed. I remember listening to a song of theirs, ALICE, for it was in a PETER JACKSON's film named LOVELY BONES (2009), and if that band's music is usually like that song, their influence is something I don't understand. Fear Of The Sea was the last track written for Mandylion, and it has a lot of changes and different things going on. It's well regarded by the band, although there are people who consider it the odd one within the record. The lyrics are about The Netherlands geographical location and the country's understandable fear of the sea.

From now on, Anneke's voice takes a few minutes off. Not that the listener needs taking a break from her voice, never in a million years, but it's a very good signal realizing that the band doesn't need to rely on her to perfectly carry out its plan. First, with the instrumental title track, MANDYLION, in which the singer's vocals are only heard briefly and with no words to be pronounced. The Gathering abandon their usual ground to show some other musical leanings (World Music, for instance) that get them closer to bands like DEAD CAN DANCE, which they would cover themselves a couple of years later. This is not the kind of song you pay the most attention to at first, but it's a grower and works just fine as a contrast.

*This is a tribute to HAROLD GLOUDEMANS, a friend of the band who had recently passed away (the album's credits state that the whole record is, and the next song's scarce lyrics are quite graphic in this regard). It was written by Frank and René while in another band called DIEP TRIEST, and has nothing to do with the rest of the album. This would have to be the odd song on the record, if any, right? This song flirts with what is known as World Music, and it's here where the aforementioned Dead Can Dance's influence is the most obvious. René is credited as playing the flute on the album, so I guess that's what can be heard at the beginning of Mandylion.

*Harold passed on the 13th of August, 1994.

And second, with SAND & MERCURY, a huge song (both significance and quality-wise) that summarizes the entire record more than well and in which Anneke only has a few lines that are supposed to be a tribute to the already mentioned late Harold. The first three minutes, give or take, show the band at the very peak of its powers, with that rotation between clean guitars and heavy parts, all surrounded by the usual gloomy atmosphere. Next comes a two minutes long section which finds The Gathering channeling their own brand of epic power metal, with keyboards that mimic female voices and all, and after it, there's also a slower passage (with Anneke finally returning) which reminds me more of the previous, titular song. The whole thing reaches the end with more instrumental music that brings this song closer to Leaves territory, and when it's all over, along comes a fragment of a 1968 interview with J.R.R. TOLKIEN, in which he quotes SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR when talking about death. Those words by the french writer are, according to Tolkien, at the very core of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and work as its keyspring.

*Hans considers this track the album's magnum opus, and it is comprised of three different sections which come from as many different songs. Concerning the heaviest one, the drummer talks about even some CELTIC FROST vibe, but with some grandiloquence as well, and he admits to still have the chills when listening to the last section. He said that the musical idea was one of chasing whales or something similar, stupid as it might sound, because they always tried to picture images, sounds and smells when writing, to make them as tangible as possible. This song used to be the closing number during that tour and the next one, and this is the one song with which Tolkien's work is supposed to be more related to, but they don't say anything about it.

In Motion's second installment closes Mandylion on a brilliant high, with a text about what seems to be a gothic and romantic drama full of rain and tears. Those strings at the beginning (played by the keyboards, I guess) are as sad as they are wonderful, something that only improves when Anneke joins. The way she stretches the last syllable of the line Together with me with her voice is simply memorable. The rest of the bands joins from that moment on, and it allows the song to be related with its older sister, for the riffs replicate those strings the same way they did in In Motion I with the keyboards. And to come full circle, The Gathering bring the first installment's refrain (Make me cry in vain) back, before going back to the second's contents and wrap the record. Amazing.

*They though about closing the album with Sand & Mercury, but they chose to do it with In Motion II instead, which is like combining several elements found on the record in just one song. Hans recalls how glad they were when they realized that the first installment's chorus fitted so nicely in here (maybe that's the reason why both songs ended up being called the same way), and he admits that all the guys in the band have always been sentimental fools. That's why both songs are, in essence, a waltz.

The Gathering a few years later, circa 1998,
 already without Jelmer

*After discussing the eight tracks, enter four people who are external to The Gathering, with their input about the band, Mandylion, and the time it was released. They are ULA GEHRET, from Century Media, Siggi Bemm (Mandylion's coproducer), journalist ROBERT HAAGSMA, and FRANK HARTHOORN, guitarist and founding member of the fellow dutch extreme metallers GOREFEST.

*Ula had been working a few months as a publicist for Century Media, and he remembers being a fan of the band already, when the summer of 1995 began. He knew they had already signed a new female singer and he wondered what side of The Gathering was the world going to see on the third album, for he had liked the first, but he had also been perplexed by the second. He says that the moment they received a copy of Mandylion there was no doubt left about the singer or the album; a dream come true of an album for a publicist like him, being something he completely believed in. And yet, it was tough getting people to listen to them, for both the first records had been very poorly promoted and distributed.

*Siggi remarks the band's open mind and its ability to achieve a lot from so little, besides the members' cordiality and the fact that they were like a family. All in all, great memories.

*Robert thinks the same way as Ula when it comes to his opinion about the two first records, and he remembers feeling sorry for the band because of the way it had fallen from grace with both the press and the fans after the second one. He recalls recovering hope when he listened to In Motion I, already with the new singer, as an advance of the third album. Anneke left him impressed, but also the music, which not only served the purpose of regaining lost ground for The Gathering, but also made the band an international phenomenon. He had interviewed the Ruttens and Anneke soon after the record was released and he could notice their excitement due to a new beginning.

*Frank remembers that Gorefest had to play in Tilburg by the end of December, 1994, and they were headlining. He says he was still having his supper when BOUDEWIJN BONEBAKKER, another Gorefest member told him that The Gathering had a new singer and that he had to hurry and go see her. He recalls going upstairs and at one moment listening to her for the first time, singing Strange Machines, and having all his hairs stand on end, something that still happens nowadays because of the memories. He also admits having watched the remaining of their set (The Gathering's second show with Anneke) in awe, while at the same time having no single recollection of Gorefet's. He says both bands shared a few more shows while The Gathering toured in support of Mandylion, and talks about the melancholy and the memories that Mandylion brings. A very emotional record, and one of the few true classics to ever come out of The Netherlands, in his opinion.

*The album's credits state that the band itself also coproduced the record, and that some german guy called CARSTEN DRESCHER was the person in charge of the artwork. The Gathering say thanks to three of their former four singers (Van Loon is missing), and also to Gorefest, among many others.

Promotional poster for one of the shows which celebrate
 the album's 30th anniversary with Mandylion's
 original lineup reunited for the occasion

*All this, concerning the proper record. But there's much more.

*What we do have next is a live album with six tracks: two of them were recorded at the already mentioned dutch festival (Eléanor and Leaves), and the third one is a much later take of Strange Machines (9th of November, 2014, at the DOORNROOSJE in Nijmegen); on side B there are In Motion I and, once again Leaves, recorded in 1995 (eight of October at the PARADISO, in Amsterdam), and last but not least, there is another live version of Strange Machines, recorded in 1996 (13th of February, also at the Paradiso) with the METROPOLE orchestra.

*And finally, there is a double album comprised of demos and B sides, with fourteen tracks and some liner notes by Anneke herself. I'd like to say I'm not usually very fond of demos; or maybe that's not what I mean and I'm just happy with the final product, which is supposed to sound better almost every single time. But I have to admit that I've loved what's on display here.

*On the first vinyl there is an instrumental track called SOLAR GLIDER, along with In Motion's first installment, Mandylion and two instrumental takes of Eléanor and Fear The Sea. I love Solar Glider, It has keys, of course, but it's quite potent as well and, as much as I love all eight tracks on Mandylion, this one could have replaced a few of them without any problem. Anneke says it was written before she joined, and discarded for being too happy when compared to the rest of the album, an assertion I do not agree with. Like some other songs, this remained shelved to be used some other time, only this one wasn't. As for In Motion I, she recalls that time as being her first with the band inside a studio, and how focused everyone was, but at the same time the fun they had and the stupid things they did afterwards, being a bunch of kids as they were. These five tracks are from June 1995 (25th and 26th, at BEAUFORT studios in Bovenkarspel), and they were recorded by HAN SWAGERMAN.

*We also get In Motion II, Strange Machines and Leaves, taped in Oss and also in 1994 (5th and 6th of November, at POPKOLLEKTIEF studios), by OSCAR HOLLEMAN. Regarding the first one, Anneke says that they tried Frank to do some backing vocals in the choruses, with a few spoken words, but said contribution was left out of the recording. Hans says this take of Strange Machines is the song's first one in the studio. They had already played it live a few times, every time a tad faster until they got the right tempo to be listened to on Mandylion. Is René who does some backing vocals.

*The second vinyl begins with two B sides: ADRENALINE and THIRD CHANCE, which are the ones to be featured on the Leaves single, released in May 1996. They were recorded in just a few days between March and April (from the 30th to the 3rd), 1996, at RS 29 studios in Waalwrijk. It was Holleman, once again, who was on charge of the recording.

*The remaining tracks are also demos: Eléanor, In Motion II, Fear The Sea and Third Chance, recorded at DOUBLE NOISE studios in Tilburg, at the beginning of 1995 by HANS TIMMERMANS. About the last one, Anneke says they used the lyrics for In Motion I, because she had not had enough time to write some decent lyrics yet. A few changes later, the song turned out ok.

Anneke, circa 1998

So far, this is all that there is regarding this reissue.

Strange Machines and Leaves were the album's two singles, and the second one came with a couple of extra tracks which did not make it onto the final product. We are talking about Adrenaline and Third Chance, two somehow faster tunes, and quite good both of them. As I said, a different mix of the latter can be found on The Gathering's next album, the great NIGHTTIME BIRDS, from 1997, with which they more or less said goodbye to metal music, to start with that already mentioned Trip Rock, Shoegaze or whatever is called what they began to play ever since. The first step in said direction was taken in 1998 with HOW TO MEASURE A PLANET?, a very long, surprising and, for the most part, brilliant effort which saw the band becoming a five piece, after the departure of ITS second axeman, JELMER WIERSMA. That record closes the trilogy I talked about earlier on.

 

But I guees there's nothing like Mandylion to get to know the heavy metal era of The Gathering.

 

Thanks and see you soon!