THE GATHERING — Almost a Dance (review)

THE GATHERING — Almost a Dance album cover Album · 1993 · Gothic Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Almost a Dance" is the second full-length studio album by Dutch death/doom/gothic metal (later atmospheric rock) act The Gathering. The album was released through the Foundation 2000 label in October 1993. It´s the successor to "Always..." from June 1992. The basic tracks were recorded live in the studio. Everything was recorded and mixed in September, 1993 at "Spitsbergen" Studio.

There have been a few lineup changes since the preceding album as lead vocalist Bart Smits has been replaced by Niels Duffhues and the band have also added Martine van Loon as a permanent female vocalist, making The Gathering a septet on "Almost a Dance". The departure of Smits has great impact on "Almost a Dance" as there are now no longer death metal growling but instead clean male vocals in the band´s music. Duffhues unfortunately has a pretty weak and unremarkable voice (he sounds like a strained Mike Patton with a cold...) and the melody lines he is given to perform aren´t particularly memorable. So the change on the male vocalist post is a definite step down in quality from "Always...". van Loon only performs vocals on four out of nine tracks on the 53:58 minutes long album, so she doesn´t have as much impact on the album as Duffhues does. When she does perform her ethereal atmospheric vocals it´s a welcome change from Duffhues tedious vocal style. The only time my ears are able to partially appreciate his performance is on the alternative acoustic rock ballad track "Nobody Cares" (which by the way interupts the flow of the album).

The instrumental part of the music is keyboard dominated doom metal and it´s generally atmospheric, melancholic, and epic music. The sound production is decent and slightly better balanced than the sound production of the preceding album, but when it comes to evaluating the album it´s impossible not to let the monotone and strained male clean vocals affect the rating. So upon conclusion "Almost a Dance" is an intriguing doom/goth metal album which is almost completely destroyed by the vocals. It´s not often a sophomore studio album is this much weaker than a band´s debut album, but that´s unfortunately the reality of things. Fortunately The Gathering would strike back with great force on their next album. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed