OK, bitches! Time to get back to it!
Title: How To Measure a Planet?
Artiste: The Gathering
Genre: Progressive Rock
Familiarity: Zero
Recommended by: The Batlord
Expectations: I don't know. Sometimes Batty gives me albums he knows I'll hate, just so he can enjoy my reactions, but this time I think he might have actually recommended one he thinks I have a decent chance of liking. We'll see. Note: does anyone know why this happened? In the middle of listening to this on Spotify it stops, because my connection dropped. Once I reset the router and got back online, it now refuses to allow me to even access the album, telling me it's not available to me, and I should upgrade! I'm already on Premium! I rebooted Spotify twice, still no luck. Had to go YouTubing in the end. Bastards. What the hell am I paying them for??
1. Frail (You might as well be me): Good start, very laidback, gentle, kind of ethereal. Nice.
2. Great ocean road: A little more powerful but still a great track and certainly pulling me deeper into this album.
3. Rescue me: Yeah, this just gets better. Nothing bad to say about it so far. Kind of reminds me of a heavier Mostly Autumn to some degree, edges of metal peeping in on this track with some harder guitar and snarly keyboard.
4. My electricity: I used not to know what trip-hop was; now I do, and I can hear it in this track, a slower, casual sort of melody, very appealing.
5. Liberty bell: Kinds of almost Indian or something here; wouldn't be surprised to hear a sitar, though I don't think there is one. Very psych though. Got really nice and rocky in the latter parts. Cool.
6. Red is a slow colour: This is also heavy, but slower. Quite dramatic too in its way. Is there an orchestra involved? It would appear not, but at times it sounds like there could be. This is ****ing brilliant! First blue. Probably won't be the last.
7. The big sleep: Very much the trip-hop in evidence here
8. Marooned:This is really nice too. Great vocal here. Sounds like a harp. Is it? Violin or cello definitely though. Quite hypnotic.
9. Travel: This has all been quite laidback so far, and I've enjoyed every minute. Great stuff.
10. South American ghostride: Really atmospheric. Enjoyed that a whole lot.
11. Illuminating: Reminds me of School of Seven Bells a little, and that's no bad thing.
12. Locked away: This has a nice kind of ominous or dramatic aura. Almost puts me in mind of Sabbath at times. That's right: I said Sabbath. As in Black.
13. Probably built in the fifties: I've noticed this album get progressively (hah!) more powerful and intense as it approaches the last few tracks. Interesting. This is one of the heaviest – comparatively – that I've heard on it yet.
14. How to measure a planet?: Ok, this is the monster, just short of half an hour, and also the title track. Let's see if it can maintain my interest for that length of time, or most of it, although given what I've heard so far I don't see that being a problem. Five minutes in and no vocals so far, other than a sort of wailing chant. Guitar here is very U2, and I mean
very. Eight minutes in now and, barring taped audio, something like radio chatter, no vocals. Could this be a 36-minute instrumental? Well, no, cos it's 28 minutes, but still, more than halfway through and no sign of anyone singing. Loving it though, long may it continue. Okay, it
was all instrumental, other than the bits mentioned. Almost a perfect demonstration of abstract musical expressionism, and I didn't get bored once.
End result: You called it Batty, right on the money. This is an amazing album and there was nothing about it I did not love. Worth checking out their other stuff? (Yeah, like I'm going to get a chance to do that! But you never know...)
So, Love or Hate? What do you think? Gonna have to Blue this mother! A good start to kick back off with a
True Love, and it deserves it. One of the best I've heard in a long time.