After its foundation in 1989, the musical development of The Gathering from Oss has not stagnated for a moment. Already on their first album Always (1992), the group stood out by emphasizing synthesizers in an idiosyncratic variation of 'death metal'. With the arrival of the trained singer Anneke van Giersbergen in 1995, the band ended up in the premier league of international metal in one fell
… swoop. On the albums that followed, the emphasis shifted more and more to melodic, atmospheric rock. In the wake of The Gathering, 'gothic' metal bands like Within Temptation and After Forever became extremely successful. The musical limitations of this scene quickly began to oppress the Oxen as well as the contractual obligations they had entered into with Century Media. Souvenirs is the first CD that, after a business conflict with this label, appears on its own Psychonaut Records. Once again the band has surpassed itself with a convincing spherical rock album, in which the strong vocals of Anneke van Giersbergen have an absolute star role. The music is in the no man's land between progressive metal and alternative rock and can easily compete with international competition in both genres. (MS)more
