UMUR
"Always..." is the debut full-length studio album by Dutch death/doom metal (later atmospheric rock) act The Gathering. The album was released through the Foundation 2000 label in June 1992. The Gathering formed in 1989 and are widely considered one of the seminal death/doom metal acts from The Netherlands, although they would later considerably change their music style. Before being signed by Foundation 2000 for the release of "Always...", The Gathering recorded and released the two demos "An Imaginary Symphony" (October 1990) and "Moonlight Archer" (April 1991). The tracks from the latter have been re-recorded and included on "Always..." ("Second Sunrise", "Subzero", and "In Sickness and Health").
Stylistically The Gathering play a relatively unique death/doom metal style, which have some similarities to artists like My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, but because they use keyboards/piano as a dominant instrument in the music still sounds vastly different from the early releases from other contemporary death/doom metal artists. I´ll mention the articulate and brutal growling vocals from Bart Smits as one of the great assets of the this album. They are very well performed and provide the music with some death metal authenticity. The rare spoken word sections provide the music with a slight gothic edge. "Always..." also features the occasional female clean vocal part performed by Marike Groot. They are in no way a dominant part of the soundscape but primarely used to color the music and provide some variation and an epic atmosphere.
The whole thing reeks melancholy but also a strange romantic and epic atmosphere (in the case of "The Mirror Waters" there´s even a few nods towards middle eastern music). An atmosphere often created by the omnipresent keyboards/piano. The guitars play slow- to mid-paced doomy riffs and are complimented by the heavy drumming. The bass is quite audible which isn´t always the case on death metal oriented releases, but here it´s audible and makes a difference. There are lead guitar parts on the album but they are actually not a dominant element of The Gathering´s sound as most lead parts and atmosphere enhancing parts are created by the keyboards/piano. It´s quite unusual for the time, and definitely what makes The Gathering stand out on the early 90s death/doom metal scene.
The tracks are generally interesting and feature enough sections and ideas (other than regular vers/chorus parts) to keep the listener entertained and intrigued throughout. The sound production is decent but not great. There are some issues with the balance between the instruments with especially the guitars often being drowned in the soundscape and the keyboards being very loud. It´s not a major issue and "Always..." is still a listenable release, but it could arguably have been better sounding.
So that minor issue out of the way "Always..." is overall a good quality death/doom metal release and it´s quite unique too because of how dominant the keyboards/piano are. Not all artists are able to create such a unique sound on their first album. The Gathering were of course far from being finished developing their sound and style and the next many albums (including this one) can be viewed as transitional releases. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.