The Gathering

The Gathering is a Dutch rock band, founded in 1989 by brothers Hans and René Rutten and vocalist Bart Smits in Oss, North Brabant. The Gathering earliest releases were categorized as atmospheric doom metal with influences from death metal acts like Celtic Frost and Hellhammer. In 1998 with the release of their fifth studio album, How to Measure a Planet?, they had a major shift in musical style, with the group acknowledging the growing influence of shoegazing, post-rock, experimental rock and the more ethereal sounds of 4AD bands, such as Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, as well as Pink Floyd, Radiohead and Massive Attack; they expanded their sound, which acquired characteristics of progressive, alternative rock, and trip hop and gained success and recognition beyond the European borders. The group continue to expand upon the experimental nature of their music. In August 2007 Anneke van Giersbergen left the group to focus on her solo project Agua de Annique. On 12 March 2009, The Gathering announced that their replacement vocalist was Silje Wergeland (Octavia Sperati). Their most recent album, Afterwords, was released on 25 October 2013. On 17 January 2014, the band announced that they decided to take a break from recording and touring, and also that Marjolein Kooijman left the band. To celebrate the band's 25th anniversary, a show featuring most of current and past members of the band took place on 9 November 2014 and was released as a live album in 2015.