The Gathering

I strongly disagree, if a band has one of those rare species of a mesmerizing frontman or frontwoman, they are simply identified by that person.
Every other part in a band is replacable, it might be harsh to say but it is the truth.

And so far every band that had one of those charismatic singers , terribly failed in continuing with a different singer, especially concert wise.

Marillion were no longer Marillion without Fish, Maiden were no longer Maiden without Bruce, Queen are no longer Queen without Freddy Mercury,
Genesis became a sad joke without Peter Gabriel.

As said in my earlier post, the new Gathering singer can sing, but her voice is simply an ordinary voice like all of those faceless female fronted Goth metal bands
I would never be able to distinguish her among 20 other voices.

Concert wise she is doing an ok job, but there is no stage presence, no charisma, and singing the old songs .....let's not get into it.

Anyways, this is my opinion, I am pretty sure as this is the forum of the fanboys of The Gathering, I stand alone here.
But if you look around on the net, on youtube and similar places, most people that really liked The Gathering found it unfuckingbelievable that this was the choice after a 1 year research for a new singer.

I think the band had no guts to try something really different, they chosed a voice that is mildly similar to Anneke's without even coming close to the specialty that Anneke has.
A step ahead would have been to go with a male singer, someone the likes of Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity)m or Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth).

just my 2 cents
Always

Τhe new Gathering singer has a name and her name is SILJE WERGELAND. I strongly disagree that the singer is irreplaceable . The gathering existed before Anneke and they are still here, after Anneke. What makes them unique is their MUSIC.

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Look at me...There were more to see, there were more to be proud of….

.....listen to On most Surfaces, In Motion, Saturnine, Leaves and Travel, Silje does a hell of a job there. I agree that some of the old songs or not suited of Silje, Even the Spirits are Afraid and Analog Park would be best in my opinion to leave those songs alone, Silje just can’t sing them right in my opinion.
I think you can’t judge by you tube stuff, the audio quality is very poor most of times. People who attended a show can really give an honest opinion. I respect yours and to be honest I sometimes too miss Anneke on stage, Silje is doing a great job and she keeps on growing, but the charismatic Anneke was something different. But Silje is growing and gets better everytime I see here one stage, give it some more time. I AM SO FUKCING GLAD THEY STILL EXCIST!!!
Ferry.

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Op mijn manier.....

If you speak about the satge presence and charisma.. I would like to see you getting in those shoes...
Seriously between Heerlen almost a year ago and Sneek jsut a week behind... you could see Silje has found her space when performing... there are some eye contacts and interactions between her and the rest of the band that I hadnt seen in the last 5 years...
Ok, maybe Silje is less expressive towards the audience while singing than Anneke, but I dont see that as a fail... it's just another personality... and comparing this is just pointless cause it's not gonna change...

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Maybe i'm paranoid, yeah that's my problem
You almost have to be when you look like me

I beg to differ. I'd be disappointed if the band stopped playing 'Even The Spirits Are Afraid', it's an absolute highlight of the show, be it with Anneke or Silje. I don't see a big difference between them anyway. Having said that, I could live without live versions of 'Leaves' and 'In Motion', well without the whole 'Strange Machines' album songs actually.

In fact I'd rather they played more songs from 'Nighttime Birds', especially 'The Earth Is My Witness'. Oh, and while I'm at it, I'd really like to see them play 'Souvenirs', 'Alone' and 'Home' live next time.

I was just putting myself in ...always' 'shoes', that at some point I get where he's coming from, Anneke made me melt and I still really miss tg with Anneke. I would never want to be in Silje's shoes, she does a hell of a job like I said. She so sweet on stage and it makes my smile just looking at here and see how much she enjoys being there. And like you said she grown so much sinds Heerlen, she gets better every time.

Cheers.

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Op mijn manier.....

yeah yeah whatever

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You pull me down - I fake a laugh - I sway
You broke my heart – I fell so hard always
Because of you I’m still afraid today
Because of you I’m still afraid today

??

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Op mijn manier.....

Not about you...
Anneke left the band 3 or 4 years ago now,and some people are still fucking complaining about it,this is so fucking ridiculous

edit : I mistaken with this topic http://www.cyclingcolours.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6914

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You pull me down - I fake a laugh - I sway
You broke my heart – I fell so hard always
Because of you I’m still afraid today
Because of you I’m still afraid today

moi je cherche pas à discuter avec quelqu'un qui cite Fear the Sea, We Just Stopped Breathing, Frail et Pathfinder dans les pires chansons du groupe. c'est comme ça lol

I don't waste my time talking with someone who mentions Fear the Sea, We Just Stopped Breathing, Frail and Pathfinder as the worst TG songs. that's it lol

sorry.

but a lot of people see it like Always. Like I said in the german part of this forum, the concert hall in berlin was half- empty, not because of the new album, because for most people the singer ist the most important band member (in general). No one cares about the drummer, but the singer is for the majority of the audience the only face they remember. Especially in a female- fronted- band, when the male band members take a back seat. Who remember the male members of lacuna coil or nightwish? Just the die- hard- fans. Silje has a tough job to do...

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http://www.paradiselost.info/Forum/index.php

pfff...

Half of this audience missing because:

they were busy with their boyfriends, grirlfriends, homeworks, their exams, their kids, family, job, disease or being abroad.

they are exclusively Anneke fans

they are "TG can't be without Anneke" fans

they dare to judge the last album like The only Gathering sole identity

they don't like the west pole songs, musically speaking.

they were dreaming they still don't want to accept the truth

they don't know The gathering band and music

^ Agreed. Yo be honest I don't know why people still continue to rant on about this topic. It's been a long time since Anneke left, and people don't get over it. If they don't like new TG that's fine, but stop creating these bloody threads to complain. Go on to Anneke's forum and praise her all you want. But not here, not in this way.

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My translation company: http://paralleltranslations.ca/translation/

My photos! (some gigs, including TG)

Oops! Just look at what I started back in 2009!

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Quite a discussion, eh? If we don't watch out, it is going to be like that discussion that is still taking place (since 2005 and going on until the present day) in Nightwish... I can imagine that in Nightwish people have their opinions on with whom the band is 'better' or 'worse' since those two singers are so different. But I don't really see the point of such a discussion for TG... I have seen videos of the Chile concert of last March, and I was actually stunned to see that Silje nailed In Motion, Saturnine, Travel ...

And regrets about the Anneke era? Well, maybe just the Nighttime Birds album, which I find is a pretty failed attempt to equal to (the success of) Mandylion. TG isn't exploring or doing new things there, the fact that I love on other albums. This being said with the exception of Inuit and Third Chance. I do think those songs are brilliant.
Besides that, the only thing I don't like about the Anneke era is the second half of the Souvenirs album. That's just because I don't like the songs in general, but maybe (in both cases) it's just a matter of listening to them more often ...

As far as I hadn't already expressed myself as such: Si, si, si; je, je, je; Viva Silje!

Hi everybody! I just think they were the amazing, perfect combination! I mean brothers Ruttens and Anneke.
And now neither AdA nor TG could make best than it was on 1996-2006 albums of TG. They might do not even want to! )))
So there's no reason to judge...
No regrets...I've loved, love now, and will love for ever The Gathering of their 10 years 'gold era') and nothing could take it away from me! I'm just keeping this time in my mind, my soul, and may be the majority of you too?..
Yours,
"amity_kate"

Silje!!!! :rock:

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My translation company: http://paralleltranslations.ca/translation/

My photos! (some gigs, including TG)

This topic can be closed after hearing In Motion in Chile last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPzymq2zcTE

I mean, after hearing this, everyone HAS to love Silje. If it's possible (I don't know if it is), it might even be better than with Anneke / in Anneke's era ... Besides that, if they have maintained this level, maybe the next album will be the best they've ever made...

VIVA SILJE!