How to Measure a Planet? by The Gathering

How to Measure a Planet? is the fifth studio album by the Dutch alternative rock band The Gathering. It was released as a double CD on 9 November 1998 by Century Media Records. The album was recorded at Bauwhaus Studios, Amsterdam and Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum between July and October 1998 under the guidance of producer Attie Bauw. The theme of space travel runs through many of the songs on the album as well as on the cover and CD booklet. The track "Liberty Bell" was released as a single in Europe, as well as in Canada on a bonus CD distributed with issue 12 of the metal magazine Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. Upon release, the album received positive reviews from critics who appreciated the band's absorption of new styles such as shoegaze and trip hop into its sound. However, many fans of the more metallic side of the group were not so pleased and it sold about two-thirds as much as its two predecessors (although some slippage should have been expected, given it was a more expensive two-CD package). Many of the Gathering's fans did stay with the band and, as the members have said, it brought them a whole new fanbase. How to Measure a Planet? remains something of a high point for the Gathering, with tracks from the album making up the majority of their two subsequent live albums, Superheat (2000) and Sleepy Buildings (2004). In Japan, a one-CD version of the album was released, omitting the nearly half-hour title track.