THE GATHERING · How To Measure A Planet | BLACK 2LP

Double black vinyl in single sleeve with special silver hotfoil front cover and full colour printed inner sleeves with lyrics & credits. Remastered for vinyl.

Background information about ''

There are albums that reshape what a band is capable of, and then there's How To Measure A Planet — a record so bold, so unshackled from expectation, it practically redefines the entire coordinate system of The Gathering's universe. When this double album first landed in 1998, jaws hit the floor. The Dutch outfit had already proven themselves masters of atmospheric metal with Mandylion and Nighttime Birds, but nobody was prepared for this. Anneke van Giersbergen's voice, always a thing of wonder, soars through these songs with an emotional clarity that feels almost supernatural — tender one moment, towering the next. The band behind her constructs vast, slow-burning soundscapes that pull from psychedelic rock, trip-hop, and progressive ambition, leaving metallic conventions far behind.

The journey across these four sides of vinyl is staggering in its scope. "Frail (You Might As Well Be Me)" opens with a deceptive gentleness before its crushing weight reveals itself, while "Great Ocean Road" drifts like a fever dream through shimmering guitars. The centerpiece might just be "Travel," a near-ten-minute odyssey that builds and recedes like tides under a blood moon. Then there's the title track, "How To Measure A Planet?," a sprawling, hypnotic closer that feels less like a song and more like a question posed to the cosmos. This remastered vinyl edition breathes new life into every layer, every texture — the bass rumbles deeper, the guitars shimmer brighter, Anneke's voice cuts through with breathtaking presence. It's not just a reissue; it's a rediscovery of a record that was years ahead of its time and still sounds like the future.

For fans of:
Anathema, Katatonia, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree, Alcest, Slowdive

Track listing

LP 1:
A1. Frail (You Might As Well Be Me)
A2. Great Ocean Road
A3. Rescue Me
A4. My Electricity
A5. Liberty Bell
B1. Red Is A Slow Colour
B2. The Big Sleep
B3. Marooned
B4. Travel

LP 2:
C1. South American Ghost Ride
C2. Illuminating
C3. Locked Away
C4. Probably Built in the Fifties
D1. How To Measure A Planet?

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