The Gathering

forum
It is currently 29 Mar 2024, 03:34

All times are UTC + 1 hour




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 54 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next
Author Message
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 12:31 
Offline
Traveller
Traveller
User avatar

Joined: 13 Nov 2005, 04:14
Posts: 248
I'll add little tidbits on this record as I come up with them in my head and they'll all go here because I don't want them to get lost. Eventually I hope to assemble them into one review. Nothing here is final as of yet.

First, the obvious comparisons of vocals.

1. The weakest track vocally is Pale Traces, because Marcela Bovio does not distinguish herself enough.

2. The strongest track vocally is Capital of Nowhere. Anne van den Hoogen shows us that the band can go with a different vocal style and still retain a specific feeling.

3. Silje Wergeland does a good job on this album. I like her as a singer. However, her "heavy" voice is better than her "soft" voice I think.

4. None of these girls sound like Anneke so I'm not even going to bother comparing who's better. They're all pretty different, in fact.

Now on to the music:

5. I like the guitar oriented sound on this record. Maybe for the next one we could see the band pick up the pace further though? After Souvenirs and Home I'm a bit tired of slow TG material. I like the faster tracks on this album but it could have used more of them.

6. So far, overall, I'm pleased with this album. The only thing that bugs me is that when I wear the t-shirt, people seem to think that I like that stupid card game Magic The Gathering. Argh.

7. So far my favourite songs are Capital of Nowhere and No One Spoke. My least favourites are Pale Traces and Symphony. Right behind my favoutires are A Constant Run, All You Are and When Trust.

8. I love the fact that on a lot of songs the music is allowed to run its own course, instead of being the backdrop to the vocals. The instrumentation on this record is top notch. A Constant Run is a great example of this.

_________________
Geezers need excitement.


Last edited by thelostpatrol on 05 May 2009, 12:41, edited 3 times in total.

Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 14:14 
Offline
Second sunrise
Second sunrise
User avatar

Joined: 31 Mar 2009, 09:32
Posts: 29
Location: Rome - Italy
thelostpatrol wrote:
The weakest track vocally is Pale Traces, because Marcela Bovio does not distinguish herself enough.


I like Marcela in both versions: english and spanish (EP). Vocals are the best part of Pale Traces to me.

thelostpatrol wrote:
Silje Wergeland does a good job on this album. I like her as a singer. However, her "heavy" voice is better than her "soft" voice I think.


Funny. I like more her soft voice. It's a matter of taste, i suppose. I agree she did a good job.

thelostpatrol wrote:
None of these girls sound like Anneke so I'm not even going to bother comparing who's better.


Silje reminds me of Anneke in several moments, but you're right: comparisons are a waste of time.

thelostpatrol wrote:
I like the guitar oriented sound on this record. Maybe for the next one we could see the band pick up the pace further though? After Souvenirs and Home I'm a bit tired of slow TG material. I like the faster tracks on this album but it could have used more of them.


I totally agree. My expectations too were for a more upbeat sound, but from the Frank's interview we get that this is the fastest pace they conceive nowadays.

My favourites are No Bird Call (a masterpiece), A Costant Run, When Trust Becomes Sound. The title track is growing. My least favourite are Treasure (i think i'm the only one :D ) and Symphony (nice but unnecessary).

thelostpatrol wrote:
I love the fact that on a lot of songs the music is allowed to run its own course, instead of being the backdrop to the vocals.


They are The Gathering!! :D


A very good album, but still not at the level of HTMAP/ITE. With Miniature and City From The Above in the tracklist, it would have been one of the best TG's album ever.

Anyway is amazing that 11 years after HTMAP the band is still capable of such an evolution. Miniature is (for me) the state of the art of TG in 2009.


Hi

_________________
----
Miles and miles i run ...


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 16:33 
Offline
Third chance
Third chance
User avatar

Joined: 06 Apr 2009, 20:08
Posts: 70
Location: Switzerland
thelostpatrol wrote:

The weakest track vocally is Pale Traces, because Marcela Bovio does not distinguish herself enough.



Strange, I think the voices of Marcela Bovio and Silje Wergeland sound quite alike, don't they?


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 16:48 
Offline
Third chance
Third chance

Joined: 18 Mar 2003, 02:02
Posts: 88
Location: England
thelostpatrol wrote:
1. The weakest track vocally is Pale Traces, because Marcela Bovio does not distinguish herself enough.

I thought the first time I heard it, that Marcela didn't sound as good as I'd previously heard from her. But then after that it grew on me, and I really like her vocals/this track now.

thelostpatrol wrote:
2. The strongest track vocally is Capital of Nowhere. Anne van den Hoogen shows us that the band can go with a different vocal style and still retain a specific feeling.

This is my least favourite vocally, I guess she's a bit poppy, or as someone else said "childlike", for me. Still a nice song though.

thelostpatrol wrote:
3. Silje Wergeland does a good job on this album. I like her as a singer. However, her "heavy" voice is better than her "soft" voice I think.

Silje is great! Maybe we'll hear more of her heavy voice on the next album.

thelostpatrol wrote:
4. None of these girls sound like Anneke so I'm not even going to bother comparing who's better. They're all pretty different, in fact.

Hehe, I can hear some similarities in all three. I could even hear Anneke singing Capital of Nowhere with her higher, brighter tones that she uses sometimes.

thelostpatrol wrote:
5. I like the guitar oriented sound on this record. Maybe for the next one we could see the band pick up the pace further though? After Souvenirs and Home I'm a bit tired of slow TG material. I like the faster tracks on this album but it could have used more of them.

That's funny, because this is probably the most uptempo album they've done. Half of it (beginning and end - 1, 2 ,3 and 9, 10) are midtempo or faster, leaving the middle for the slow tracks.
Well, I seemed to disagree with you on almost all points :wink:

My favourites are Treasure, All You Are and The West Pole. All fantastic, not sure after that, some are still growing on me, probably No Bird Call especially the end part and Pale Traces which builds really well, the strings are great, I first thought no way does this song need to be nearly 8 mins but now I think it does :) The one I think doesn't need to be that long is A Constant Run, with the extended outro. I find those sort of things a bit pointless, same with When Trust Becomes Sound, no doubt most people here will disagree with me on that.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 16:57 
Offline
Traveller
Traveller
User avatar

Joined: 13 Nov 2005, 04:14
Posts: 248
Well yeah the beginning starts off quite strong, and then it fizzles out a third of the way in. The problem isn't so much the music itself as the track order, really. The slow songs are still quality, but having so many of them bunched together makes for one very concave album.

As far as Mrs. Bovio is concerned, I think the Spanish version of her vocal track should have made the regular album, and the English one should have been left for the EP, not the other way around. That would have made for a much stronger impression I think. Her vocals on the Spanish version of Pale Traces are far superior, and you can tell she's working in her native element here which makes her performance all the more invigorating.

_________________
Geezers need excitement.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 17:20 
Offline
Traveller
Traveller
User avatar

Joined: 13 Nov 2005, 04:14
Posts: 248
Neil: Regarding similarity, I think it stops at the fact that they're all women conforming to a similar musical style. But when you listen to the tone of their vocals and the style of delivery I think the most similarity you can find is between Bovio (on the English Pale Traces) and Vergeland. But even with those two as soon as you hear the Spanish track you realize they're a long distance apart stylistically.

As far as Annie goes, there really isn't a vocalist that I've ever heard in any genre that has her distinct vocal style. That's one of those things that made this band special for so long, and something that carries Agua de Annique such a long way now that that project is underway. I'm not saying this as a fan, which I obviously am, but as someone who became attracted to this band first and foremost based on this fact before any other element became apparent. I don't think I'd have become so interested so quickly in this band had someone else been in her place.

This really is a very different band now, and that's probably the thing I'm forced to deal with the most when I hear this record. But at the same time it seems like they're more of a group-led effort now whereas it seems to me (from a fan's perspective) like Anneke carried the band such a long way before, regardless of how much the band contributed, because of how unique she is. That said, I never expected the band to come up with another singer as unique in sound as Anneke. I expected one of more traditional sound for such a band. It's very rare that one can find such a thing twice.

_________________
Geezers need excitement.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 18:01 
Offline
Traveller
Traveller
User avatar

Joined: 09 Oct 2004, 21:45
Posts: 396
Location: Sliding over you...
thelostpatrol wrote:
The problem isn't so much the music itself as the track order, really. The slow songs are still quality, but having so many of them bunched together makes for one very concave album.


Hey, I was thinking I was the only one thinking that way. When I play the record in my laptop I always change the track order, I honestly cannot stand the original one, it gets me out of my nerves.

_________________
And all the light that paves the way for me
is the wish and will for the end to see...


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 21:37 
Offline
moderator
moderator
User avatar

Joined: 12 Oct 2001, 01:00
Posts: 6683
Location: Deventer!!! [NL]
thelostpatrol wrote:
As far as Mrs. Bovio is concerned, I think the Spanish version of her vocal track should have made the regular album, and the English one should have been left for the EP, not the other way around. That would have made for a much stronger impression I think. Her vocals on the Spanish version of Pale Traces are far superior, and you can tell she's working in her native element here which makes her performance all the more invigorating.

Vocally maybe Marcela sings better in her native language but the EP version misses the fucking groovy rythm that the drums, bass and guitars brings to the album version in my opinion... I love the fact that Pale traces starts as a mellow song to actually get quite up tempo according to TG standards.

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


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 22:15 
Offline
Third chance
Third chance

Joined: 12 Feb 2004, 02:59
Posts: 119
Location: Brazil
I was quite surprised with all the positive comments about Pale Traces (and all the votes it got on the "best song from twp poll)... I don't like the vocals at all (And I like some of her previous work)... It's the only track on the album that I don't like.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 22:25 
Offline
King for a day
King for a day
User avatar

Joined: 01 Jul 2003, 21:18
Posts: 745
Location: York, United Kingdom
Perhaps Marcela has also been trying not to sound like Anneke, and what you hear on that track is the result. There's one track on Stream of Passion's Embrace the Storm (listen to the end of "I'll Keep on Dreaming") where she outperforms Anneke in more or less good old-fashioned Anneke (pre-Souvenirs) style - at least that's what I beleive. So, my thinking runs, she knows she can copy Anneke, but on this album perhaps she felt she needed to avoid doing that. Only Marcela can tell us for sure, of course.

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 05 May 2009, 22:59 
Offline
moderator
moderator
User avatar

Joined: 12 Oct 2001, 01:00
Posts: 6683
Location: Deventer!!! [NL]
I think the band asks Marcela to get away from a Anneke-clone style... I mean they knew she could sing in the same way than Anneke... and ask her to get away from that path.

But whoever sings on that album I don't hear anything close to Anneke... Maybe she would have come up with a melody line for vocal close to the one we can actually hear, but I believe this is driven by the music...
What I mean is that Silje, Marcel and Anne's timbre are different but still perfectly fits the songs :D

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


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 06 May 2009, 00:44 
Offline
Third chance
Third chance

Joined: 18 Mar 2003, 02:02
Posts: 88
Location: England
I think Burn is right about the timbre, but for me it's a little more than them all being women singing a similar style of music. From when I first heard Octavia, Silje's vocals reminded me of Anneke, there is something in the phrasing, for instance the way both of them take a syllable of a word and stretch it to make several syllables/pitches.

With Marcela, it's probably more on some Stream of Passion material that you might hear it rather than Pale Traces. I think we can say she can sing a bit similar to Anneke which would make sense as I do believe she's quite influenced by TG (unlike Silje), has played in a tribute to TG, etc. I remember I once made a little clip of Anneke singing "I know, it's not that easy" from Rollercoaster and Marcela singing "I know, it won't be easy" from SoP's Deceiver, for comparison purposes :wink:


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 06 May 2009, 11:43 
Offline
King for a day
King for a day
User avatar

Joined: 22 Jul 2006, 01:33
Posts: 524
Location: Bordeaux [FR]
Burn wrote:
thelostpatrol wrote:
As far as Mrs. Bovio is concerned, I think the Spanish version of her vocal track should have made the regular album, and the English one should have been left for the EP, not the other way around. That would have made for a much stronger impression I think. Her vocals on the Spanish version of Pale Traces are far superior, and you can tell she's working in her native element here which makes her performance all the more invigorating.

Vocally maybe Marcela sings better in her native language but the EP version misses the fucking groovy rythm that the drums, bass and guitars brings to the album version in my opinion... I love the fact that Pale traces starts as a mellow song to actually get quite up tempo according to TG standards.


I'm agree with you. This is what I thought the first time I heard this song... and I prefer at least the english version. :wink:

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 06 May 2009, 14:16 
Offline
Third chance
Third chance

Joined: 31 Dec 2006, 18:07
Posts: 168
thelostpatrol wrote:


1. The weakest track vocally is Pale Traces, because Marcela Bovio does not distinguish herself enough.

2. The strongest track vocally is Capital of Nowhere. Anne van den Hoogen shows us that the band can go with a different vocal style and still retain a specific feeling.



I totally disagree with point 1 and 2. I love the warm voice of Marcela, but I find Anne very annoying.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 06 May 2009, 20:32 
Offline
Traveller
Traveller
User avatar

Joined: 13 Nov 2005, 04:14
Posts: 248
Burn wrote:
thelostpatrol wrote:
As far as Mrs. Bovio is concerned, I think the Spanish version of her vocal track should have made the regular album, and the English one should have been left for the EP, not the other way around. That would have made for a much stronger impression I think. Her vocals on the Spanish version of Pale Traces are far superior, and you can tell she's working in her native element here which makes her performance all the more invigorating.

Vocally maybe Marcela sings better in her native language but the EP version misses the fucking groovy rythm that the drums, bass and guitars brings to the album version in my opinion... I love the fact that Pale traces starts as a mellow song to actually get quite up tempo according to TG standards.


Which is why I said vocal track. Not the whole track.

_________________
Geezers need excitement.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 06 May 2009, 23:04 
Offline
King for a day
King for a day
User avatar

Joined: 01 Jul 2003, 21:18
Posts: 745
Location: York, United Kingdom
Forgive me, Marcela, but look what I found on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28DjnCAkhuY. :wink:






















So look: to those of you who want to make comments about the way Marcela is singing on TWP - there are some alternative possibilities.

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 06 May 2009, 23:43 
Offline
moderator
moderator
User avatar

Joined: 19 Oct 2001, 01:00
Posts: 1985
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Care to listen her norwegian singing? hehehehe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbh8JiIK_hg

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 07 May 2009, 00:13 
Offline
King for a day
King for a day
User avatar

Joined: 01 Jul 2003, 21:18
Posts: 745
Location: York, United Kingdom
I've heard Kari's song before, as sung by Kari. The difference, I think, is that Marcela's warm vibrato creeps in ever so slightly.

Meanwhile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtfMdZ5PEMo. :wink: Glorious, but perhaps just a little hurried - or is it meant to be presented like that?

We'd better stop this before (i) we get declared "off topic" or (ii) Marcela attacks us with some large fruit (bananas are very popular on the SoP forum).

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 07 May 2009, 00:32 
Offline
Third chance
Third chance

Joined: 18 Mar 2003, 02:02
Posts: 88
Location: England
I like her singing Therion :wink:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcz-IGpxzCA


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: 07 May 2009, 01:35 
Offline
Second sunrise
Second sunrise

Joined: 08 Jul 2007, 13:12
Posts: 13
Aégis_Strife wrote:
thelostpatrol wrote:
The problem isn't so much the music itself as the track order, really. The slow songs are still quality, but having so many of them bunched together makes for one very concave album.


Hey, I was thinking I was the only one thinking that way. When I play the record in my laptop I always change the track order, I honestly cannot stand the original one, it gets me out of my nerves.



I don't really agree. The tracks order seems right. The only thing that I would change is that I would have put No One Spoke right after You Promised Me A Symphony. The transition is more brutal : I like that !


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 54 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

All times are UTC + 1 hour


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group