The Gathering went on a wild, exploratory journey after they, along with former label Foundation 2000, unfurled their atmospheric doom-death masterpiece Always… in the summer of 1992. Whether it was Mandylion (1995) and How to Measure a Planet? (1999) or The West Pole (2009) or their most recent album, Beautiful Distortion (2022), the Dutch masters never shied away from going their own way. Actually, this is true of debut album, Always…, too! Although similarities (tenuous at best, I think) to Tiamat, The Third and the Mortal, and others were posited (yes, by me in a much younger form), The Gathering were truly a unique enterprise. Always… had heavy (“The Mirror Waters”), contemplative (“King for a Day”), and airy (“Stonegarden”) spread across its seven magnificent tracks. There was no mistaking The Gathering’s sound.
To celebrate Always… at 30, Burning World Records (Celestial Season, Ulver, Conan) is releasing a remixed version, and they’ve invited Decibel to stream focal track, “Stonegarden.”
Says The Gathering’s Hans Rutten: “‘Stonegarden’ is one of the last songs we wrote before we started recording Always…. It was used as a single to promote the album at the time, and 32(!) years later it’s happening again, but now the song is remixed. We always had the idea of getting more out of the original mix of this album (it was completely mixed in two days back then), so we are very happy that we were able to remix the record with the possibilities of today. The guitar parts in particular sound a bit thicker, but every instrument and vocals actually sounds better. We’re very glad we dared to remix Always… because it is always something ‘risky’. It sounds great!”
** The Gathering’s 30th Anniversary Edition of Always… (Remixed) will be available from Burning World Records. Get a copy of this essential slab of atmospheric doom-death HERE.