The Gathering

A Sound Relief (The End)
by Martin Popoff

Impressive in that this is somewhat of an indie production, A Sound Relief offering two discs of Gathered goodies, housed in a card oversleeve package with austere, spot-varnished packaging. The root of the package is an expertly shot, hi-fidelity 15-song show of very slow, mellow songs. This causes impatience, but is quelled by Anneke looking great in casual white top, white pants, and white sneakers. She’s a great frontwoman as well, always smiling, singing effortlessly, not moving around much, but you quickly don’t care. Aiding the motion of the concert is animation and video images deftly and sparingly used, as bonuses in the DVD and as projected backdrop imagery in the actual concert. Interestingly, one can hear a handful of songs purely with this imagery, some of which is dull, but much of the pure animation is professional and worthy. Additionally, there is Dutch and Italian documentary/interview footage, lots of backstage, and through it all, one picks up a fair bit behind the motivation of the band as they moved from metal into the moody, trippy, Gothic alt/art rock they now play.
(www.theendrecords.com)