The Gathering

We are eager to announce that the new album is completely finished. We are all delighted with our latest creation, which has been named Illumination. The planned release is in September.

Some titles from the album are Sanguine Sky, Open Ground, Lotus, Down and Mercyside, to mention a few. All titles will be revealed at a later date.

True to tradition, we have made an album with a definite and unmistakably Tristanian sound, but which also brings a lot of new and fresh material. The album is another evolutionary step and lets us explore new areas while staying true to our roots.

On every track, the moods and elements are plentiful; ranging from doom to industrial, from soothing synthesizer passages to technical metal riffs, from dark ballads to classic goth rock – it's all there. We've used a string quartet on several tracks, which attributed yet another dimension to those songs.

The collaboration with producer Waldemar Sorychta worked really great; we all worked well together as a team. We are delighted with the production, which is exceedingly powerful. Waldemar also came to Norway, prior to going into studio, for two pre-production sessions. This was a very rewarding process which left us better prepared than ever going into the studio.

It is hard to describe the individual songs, but as ever, the material is very diverse. In a few weeks time, we will post samples from the album online, to give you an impression of the release. We will also post a video collage from recordings made in Woodhouse Studios, where we have spent quite some time this spring.

Illumination sports some of the strongest vocal performances from both Vibeke and Østen. The extreme vocals are less frequent, but the parts appearing on the album are truly great. We wanted to get someone special to do these parts, and were lucky to get one of our personal favourites in the field to make a guest appearance on the album; namely Vorph from Samael. His performance is truly of the highest standard.

The music is written by Anders & Einar, with a couple of tracks co-written with producer Waldemar during the pre-production in Norway. Østen is the main lyricist, although Einar has written words for a few songs. Kjartan Hermansen has also once again shared with us his skills as a lyricist.

Those of you who will see us on the Evolution Fest in Italy and Mera Luna in Germany this summer will get to listen to some of the new material – that's a promise. A lot of the new tracks will be killer live material.