The most immediately striking aspect of Nighttime Birds is that the Gathering does not have an ordinary singer or death metal growler; instead, they have metal diva Anneke Van Giersbergen, whose voice often recalls Björk and may range from a powerful, throaty wail to a sweetly tuneful caress that belies her deliberate, crunching musical accompaniment.
As with Mandylion, the Gathering no longer really sounds like a traditional death metal band; the music is mostly melodic (yet tinged with sorrow), slow to mid-tempo progressive metal, with Van Giersbergen's distinctive voice soaring above the band's nicely varied textures.
It's a fine effort, one that marks the Gathering as a band that bears watching, especially if they vary the tempo and mood a bit more.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On Most SurfacesThe Gathering | The Gathering | Play | 06:53 | 15 MB | 50 MB |
| 2 | Confusion | The Gathering | Play | 06:29 | 14 MB | 46 MB |
| 3 | The May SongThe Gathering, Anneke van Giersbergen | The Gathering | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 4 | The Earth Is My WitnessThe Gathering, Anneke van Giersbergen | The Gathering | Play | 05:30 | 12 MB | 38 MB |
| 5 | New Moon, Different Day | The Gathering | Play | 06:06 | 13 MB | 41 MB |
| 6 | Third ChanceThe Gathering | The Gathering | Play | 05:25 | 12 MB | 41 MB |
| 7 | Kevin's TelescopeThe Gathering, Anneke van Giersbergen | The Gathering | Play | 03:22 | 7 MB | 24 MB |
| 8 | Nighttime BirdsThe Gathering | The Gathering | Play | 06:55 | 15 MB | 48 MB |
| 9 | ShrinkAnneke van Giersbergen | The Gathering | Play | 04:01 | 9 MB | 22 MB |
| 48 mins | 110 MB | |||||
| 48 mins | 339 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Siggi Bemm | Engineer, Producer |
| 2 | Frank Boeijen | Piano, Synthesizer |
| 3 | The Gathering | Composer, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 4 | Hugo Prinsen Geerligs | Bass |
| 5 | Matthias Klinkmann | Engineer |
| 6 | René Rutten | Guitar |
| 7 | Anneke van Giersbergen | Composer, Vocals |
| 8 | Jelmer Wiersma | Guitar |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |