How To Measure A Planet? West Virginia

This album is The Gathering's Rust In Peace orMellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness in that it charts newmusical territories and progressive ideas while expanding on theband's signature sound. It's also a double disc, but that's hardlythe most striking similarity to Megadeth or the SmashingPumpkins.

How to Measure a Planet? is a tour-de-force.It is the album where The Gathering finds their visions fulfilled,where they sounded the way they could and should sound. They didaway with the metal and gothic posings they fostered with theirprevious albums in order to create music that transcendsboundaries. Toning down the guitars and focusing on the dreamyatmospherics and beautiful vocals, courtesy of Anneke vanGiersbergen, who proves time and time again she is one of thefinest female vocalists of all time. With this album, shesolidifies that claim because her emotive voice fits better withthis kind of music, where she can just focus on channeling emotionsthrough her singing without having to coexist with distortedguitars.

The album deals with distance, where the songs talkabout yearning for someone ("Rescue Me"), the feeling of witnessingthe vastness of an endless horizon ("Great Ocean Road"), or theexhilaration of flight ("Liberty Bell"). Even the sound sympathizeswith the theme of the album, embellished with the verdant and vividinstrumentations the band is known for.

"Great Ocean Road" is (IMHO) one of the best songsever recorded. The main riff just washes the listener off your feetand engulfs you in the unknown deep, where dreams are forged intoreality. The powerful tapestry of sound is realized though theaffecting singing of Anneke. This song is just powerful, amazing,superb and wonderful.