THE GATHERING — An Imaginary Symphony (review)

THE GATHERING — An Imaginary Symphony album cover Demo · 1990 · Death-Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
UMUR
"An Imaginary Symphony" is the first demo recording by Dutch death/doom metal (later atmospheric rock) act The Gathering. The demo was independently released in October 1990. It´s a live rehearsal demo recorded on the 18th of October 1990. The Gathering formed in 1989 and are widely considered one of the seminal death/doom metal acts from The Netherlands, although they would later considerably change their music style.

The demo features five tracks and a total playing time of 23:41 minutes. Opening track "Second Sunrise" and the third track "Downfall" would be re-recorded and included on The Gathering´s second demo recording "Moonlight Archer" from April 1991. "Second Sunrise" would even subsequently make it unto the band´s 1992 debut full-length studio album "Always...".

Stylistically The Gathering play a relatively unique death/doom metal style, which may have some similarities to artists like My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, but because they use keyboards/piano as a dominant instrument in the music still sounds vastly different from the early releases from other contemporary death/doom metal artists. On this demo they also play considerably faster than they would on subsequent releases (a track like "Six Dead, Three to Go" is almost melodeath before such a genre term was coined), making this an occasionally relatively energetic release. Lead vocalist Bart Smits´s vocals are semi/growling or throaty shouting (even some hardcore tinged cleans) rather than his later brutal deep (yet intelligible) growling vocals.

The sound production is pretty decent considering that this is a live rehearsal demo. It´s almost a matter of course that not all instruments are equally well balanced in the mix, but to my ears The Gathering have managed to record a very well sounding rehearsal demo. Upon conclusion it was probably for the best that the band opted to cut the faster paced tracks from their repertoire. It´s not that tracks like "Six Dead, Three to Go" or "Another Day" are awful or anything like that, but it´s definitely the slow and epic death/doom metal tracks on the demo which make most impact (I´d say "Downfall" in particular). A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.
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