Tag Archives: the gathering

Features, Tours and Festivals

ProgPower USA Reveals 2020 Day 3 & 4 Lineup

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progpower usa logo

At the time of our posting this, there are hundreds and hundreds of Metalheads making their way to a place called The Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia for the annual ProgPower USA Heavy Metal music festival which actually is starting later on today. While these fans are getting ready to rock, we caught wind of a promotional video for next years 3rd and 4th day and are sharing it with you below so you know what we are both missing out on at the moment and how excited we should be for next years happening. Watch the video to see clips of all the announced bands. It’s a bit long but I found it rather enjoyable so you should as well. Here we go.

https://vimeo.com/357375304

The Lineup: Shattered Skies, Witherfall, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, Night Flight Orchestra, Conception, Arion, Thank You Scientist, Jeff Scott Soto, Beast In Black, The Gathering, Ihsahn, Turilli/Lione: Rhapsody.

Be Advised: Tickets will go on sale -Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019 at 10am ET via Ticketmaster. Only 900 tickets will be made available to the general public. The festival’s 2019 edition sold-out in 3 hours!
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Features, Interviews

Music Luminaries Share Their New Year’s Metal Resolutions for 2012: Part 3

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new year's music resolutions

Hello again, it’s great that you are sticking with our New Year’s Metal Resolutions for 2012 Blog Series, and welcome to Wednesday or our “third times the charm edition”. As you have seen over the last couple of days posts, we posed the inquiry to a number of musical greats about what their resolutions might be as it relates to Metal or Music on the whole. I’ve loved what we got back from them and without any further adieu, please enjoy this chapter.

Stu Block (lead vocals for Iced Earth): My New Years Resolutions for 2012 is, to broaden my knowledge to the things that are happening in my country, politically and financially. Eat healthier and work out more.

Oliver Palotai (keyboards for Kamelot & Sons Of Seasons): My New Years Musical Resolution is to continue making good music and to further kick the mainstream in the ass!

Nick Avila (bassist for Powerglove): Powerglove’s New Years Metal resolution for 2012 is to overcome our Skyrim addictions, and write and record a new Video Game album for you. We are also exploring the logistics of building a Starburst cannon, setting up a Powerglove video game metal convention, touring Japan, and entering the world beard and moustache championships. Seeing as none of us currently have moustaches, we have our work cut out for us, but with a combination of Rogaine, miracle grow, and self determination, I believe we have a good shot at failure. Cheers to failure, and Happy New Year to you all!
Continue reading Music Luminaries Share Their New Year’s Metal Resolutions for 2012: Part 3 →

Features, PiercingMetal Says

PiercingMetal’s “Best Of Decade”: 2000-2009: The Concerts

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As I’ve previously noted, we’ve always aimed to deliver a year end “Best Of” list and with the end of the decade just having happened, it’s time to continue our thoughts about what was the “Best Of The Decade” from 2000-2009 – I’ve already doled out the Music and Video picks and now it’s time to get into the live concerts that we found the most enjoyable over the past ten years.

I was not really planning on doing a decade spanning concert “best of” but many of the readers of the site had sent me emails after the list posted inquiring about those events which I thought were the biggest highlights to me. Based on the interest, I figured that it was better to append the article to also feature this information of be stuck answering emails over and over. I’ve been fortunate as a writer and photographer to get to enjoy a large number of shows and I hope that you enjoy the list I came up with.

Van Halen @ Madison Square Garden (Warner Music Group): The Brothers Van Halen reunited with David Lee Roth made this one of the highlights of my decade. Yes Michael Anthony was no longer a part of the band but I could live with that since it gave me back Dave. The hits were non-stop at the show and I think I watched it five feet above the floor where my seat was. Everyone in NYC was dancing the night away that’s for sure.

Iron Maiden @ Madison Square Garden (EMI Music): This show was for the “Brave New World” CD that many loved for bringing back Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith into the fold. I loved it for its amazing level of energy and how it showed just how good Maiden was and the fact that it had Rob Halford as the opener and Queensryche. OK I admit that I didn’t feel the Ryche were all that good that night and were rather slow after the Halford set. It was fantastic seeing Rob’s then new band in action of course as he was still years away from rejoining Judas Priest.

The Gathering @ The Knitting Factory (The End Records): I was a casual fan of The Gathering and my buddies who went to the show with me were much more into them, but seeing them in this smaller space was fantastic. Very moody and atmospheric stuff and done well in the live sense. Anneke sang like a siren and one of the openers was an unknown group called Unexpect. I’ve been a supporter of theirs since that night and feel that this appearance gave me a heads up on a terrific band many years before the rest of the folks would catch on.

HIM @ The Bowery Ballroom (Universal Music): While working at one of the investment banks from hell I scanned a video for HIM which was “Join Me In Death” and I was hooked and did my best to find a couple of the bands albums. Their first show on US soil in NYC would be at The Bowery Ballroom and the two nights were close to sold out. We caught the first show I believe but its been awhile and in any case it was amazing to see HIM in such an intimate room. Going forward we would watch the band play larger places each time and having all of the shows sell out well in advance.

Kamelot @ B.B. King Blues Club (SPV Records): I am referring to the first time that I ever caught Kamelot performing at B.B. King Blues Club and not one of the other four times. I was very new to the band and how they did things but it was a smoking show and one that made many fans for the guys who would rally to their cause in the future. They continue to impress the masses and we love them for it.
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Features, PiercingMetal Says

PiercingMetal’s “Best Of” 2009: The Music Part 2

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Hello again, and welcome back to the continuing “Best Of” 2009 lists. This is chapter two of my favorite albums for the year since I had so many. Don’t worry, I loved a lot of concerts, books and videos but those will have to get their own chapter as well. With this installment I have also featured those releases which were older albums that found a re-issue. I’ve never minded reviewing back catalog here on the website and as we head towards out fifth year in 2010 can only see that process continuing. Okay let’s take a look at the picks.

The Best Albums Of 2009 Continued:

Immortal “All Shall Fall” (Nuclear Blast Records): The Dark Gods of the frozen wastelands are back and shall take no prisoners. Welcome back gentleman, we’ve been waiting for this one for awhile.

Nile “Those Whom The Gods Detest” (Nuclear Blast Records): This angry little title only briefs you on the massive sound delivered by Nile on their latest. Could this be the bands magnum opus, one might think so after hearing it a couple of times. That’s good for the genre all around.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra “Night Castle” (Lava Records): It’s finally here and offers fans of the Symphonic Hard Rock orchestra a lot of cool treats. There are some covers and remakes on this one for the old Savatage crowd and a lot of new instrumentals and lyrical pieces that both amaze and inspire. Nice work.

The Smithereens “Tommy” (E1 Entertainment): Classic rockers re-do most of the amazing Rock Opera by The Who. Their renditions were solid and worthy of praise. Cool.

The Gathering “The West Pole” (Season Of Mist Records): Another band with some history and yet another new lead singer. Did it work out, well, yes it did indeed.

Chimaira “The Infection” (Ferret Music): Brutal, powerful and very, very heavy. This bands name breathes Metal and the music on this release is the proof in the pudding.

Them Crooked Vultures “Them Crooked Vultures” (Interscope Records): Another super group but this one features John Paul Jones…….JOHN PAUL JONES!!!!! Awesome stuffs.

Shadow’s Fall “Retribution” (Shadows Fall Records): Solid effort from these original leaders in the Nu-Metal field.

The Last Vegas “Whatever Gets You Off” (Eleven Seven Music): Really enjoyed the Trash/Sleaze Rock of these winners of the Guitar Player contest. I sense good and big things a coming for these boys.

White Wizzard “High Speed GTO” (Earache Records): Kicking it Old School never sounded so good.
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Music, Reviews

“Home” by The Gathering

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Artist: The Gathering
Title: “Home”
Label: The End Records
Release Date: 4/18/2006
Genre: Atmospheric Rock
Rating: 3.5/5

If you have been following The Gathering since their inception in 1989 then you are well-aware of all the vast and varied musical changes and transformations that their sound has gone through over the years Originally starting as a type of Gothic/Doom outfit, the band became more of a more Gothic Hard Rock presence when singer Anneke van Giersbergen joined them in 1994. They released classics such as “Nighttime Birds” and “Mandylion” but the style changes would continue along with every album they gave us. As far as singers go, Anneke is one of those rare finds and a treat on the listener’s ear. Her voice is quite literally one of the most musically perfect you could hope to hear and as the albums continued to be delivered her abilities would shine ever brighter and the band would morph more and more until eventually becoming the brand of Atmospheric Ambient Rock we get on “Home”. It’s a logical step and one I first felt this happening with the semi-acoustic evening recorded on “Sleepy Buildings”. This was like an episode of MTV Unplugged and while the band shined in this fashion, it seemed as though Anneke was running the band as the whole thing showcased her a lot more than they had in the past.
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