Just to start this review with nagging: on this promo CD two songs were held back, Jelena and A Life All Mine, and especially latter one would have been highly interesting because ex-Arcturus singer Trickster G gave a tryst. Too bad... *sighs*. So I have to run out again and buy this original CD (whilst my wallet will kill me) but then Souvenirs is worth every cent you invest.
THE GATHERING play kind of free of any restrictions. No musical limitations. The liberty of an own label. Fans, who hoped that THE GATHERING would go back to more metallic roots as If_Then_Else has promised, will be surely disappointed. What the band already has suggested with their work on How To Measure A Planet they have worked out and sophisticated almost to perfection which allows a lots of space for all kind of future developments and tendencies.
Souvenirs has liberated itself completely from the metal scene and turned into Trip Rock. Which is, by the way, a pretty simplistic categorization (like the word “Crossover” when it came up) for everything that turns from heavier regions to „softer“ ones without getting commercial.
Anyway this album is very quiet, contemplative. A somber atmosphere and spacy soundscapes build the matrix. Partly really powerful bass lines like in Even The Spirits Are Afraid or We Just Stopped Breathing, sometimes also heavy guitars (Monsters for example or Broken Glass) can be found as well as jazzy elements, piano tunes (These Good People), string samples and sundry crazy loops. Or just calm and atmospheric songs like You Learn About It or the title track Souvenirs. References to Portishead are still there but their influences and stylistic means in general are not that cumbersome anymore.
All lyrics (except Monsters and We Just Stopped Breathing by Zlaya Hadzich) were written by Anneke van Giersbergen. Her singing skills didn’t change at all, fine as we are used to. Maybe a bit pallid at some points. Most of the time her voice ranges in normal fields, not too high, so she doesn’t run the risk of her voice to deteriorate.
Well, THE GATHERING are not the first and the only ones who move away from the Metal or Gothic scene in this direction, but I have to confess I like this kind of music more and more. Souvenirs is a wonderful album with loads of moments and facets.