After years of waiting, 2026 is the year of the big reunion: The Gathering are back on stage with the iconic Mandylion lineup, featuring the legendary voice of Anneke van Giersbergen. From their early doom/gothic roots to the progressive and atmospheric experiments that made them one of a kind, they remain one of the most influential and beloved acts in European alternative rock.

Mandylion redefined gothic metal in the '90s: 30 years later, how was the album born, and what did you want to communicate with it?

Anneke: The guys wrote this album after a less successful album and tour, so I think it’s admirable that they created something so beautiful during a difficult period. The music had already been written before I joined the band, so I added the lyrics and vocal lines afterward. I’m not sure if we were trying to convey anything specific, I think it was more about expressing what was inside us.

How did you see Mandylion 30 years ago, and how do you see it now?

Anneke: At the time I thought it was a beautiful album myself, and in hindsight the combination of heavy guitars, keyboard parts, and a girl as the lead singer was fairly unique, but we as a band considered it quite logical. The record label saw this much earlier than we did and decided to release the album worldwide right away. All of that contributed to the album’s impact.
I guess my life wouldn't be the same without this album, so I look back at it with great pride and gratitude.          

How did the idea for this reunion come about?

Anneke: In the early days of The Gathering, my mother handled the band’s bookkeeping. When she passed away, I received a couple of considerate and warm messages from both the Rutten brothers. Before that, we hadn’t had much contact, but after the death of both my parents, we started messaging each other regularly again. Not long after that, at the initiative of our old record label, the responsible organization in the Netherlands took a proper look at the numbers, and it turned out that Mandylion had already gone gold a long time ago. We organized a festive award ceremony, and since then we began seeing each other more often again, having lunch together and things like that. That’s how the idea came about to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Mandylion together.

The doom metal roots of “Always...” connect you to the early black metal scene (Celtic Frost, etc.): which extreme bands influenced your formation, and which ones would you recommend today to BLACKZine.com readers ?

Anneke: I know the guys were really into Celtic Frost and Voivod, but also Pink Floyd. Since I joined the band, we’ve all been big fans of Ulver. I find Ihsahn to be an inspiring musician, of course with Emperor, but definitely also his solo albums.

From atmospheric doom to trip rock elements without losing your "dark" essence. How did your sound evolve? Was it a deliberate choice or a natural progression?

It wasn’t really a deliberate choice. Some technical possibilities came our way at the end of the 1990s, we were able to experiment more in the studio, and we started to recorded digitally. At the same time, the musical landscape was changing a lot during that period, and we were very inspired by that. All of this together led to for instance How To Measure A Planet?

Which is your favorite album (The Gathering) to revisit today, and why?

Anneke: I’d say How to Measure a Planet?, mainly for the reason I mentioned above. It was incredibly inspiring to suddenly have all kinds of new recording techniques at our disposal.

Extra-metal influences: shoegaze, electronica, ambient. What are your favorite listens? Which artists, bands, and genres do you enjoy most?

Anneke: I actually listen to all sorts of things: The Beatles, The Alan Parsons Project, Kate Bush, and Mastodon, I’m a big fan of that band. The Hunter might be their most melodic album. The opening track, “Black Tongue,” hits right away with that fantastic riff. From that moment on, I was completely drawn into Mastodon. Whenever they’re in the Netherlands, I always go see them. They’re also one of the few bands I want to stand right at the front for, just to experience everything from the first row.

Which albums (not your own) would you recommend to BLACKZine.com readers, and why?

Susanne Sundfør, Music for People in Trouble.
The funny thing is that all my favorite singers are men. But a few years ago, Susanne Sundfør shot straight into my all-time top ten with this album. She’s a Norwegian singer, and I actually discovered her a few years ago completely by chance. I was doing something when I heard her song “Reincarnation,” and I thought: wow, who is that? Her voice and timbre are truly fantastic!

Before we let you go from this interrogation, is there something you want to tell us about your tour. What should fans expect

Anneke: We decided early on not to play the album in its original order, but to complement it with songs we personally wanted to perform. This was mainly with the aim of creating a setlist that would captivate the audience from start to finish.

The tour is about to start. Can you give us some teasers or anticipations?

Anneke: Perhaps the most surprising thing is that we still play the songs so well, maybe even better, because we’ve grown in a certain way as musicians and as people. The focus of the set is still Mandylion, but the album is complemented with all sorts of favorites from my time in the band.

Now the floor is yours: feel free to say goodbye to the BLACKZine.com readers and anything else you'd like to add!

Anneke: Thank you so much, dear readers and listeners! These concerts bring back so many cherished memories, and I’m happy that we can share them with an audience through a good number of live shows. I’m incredibly grateful that I’ve been able to make a living for more than 30 years doing what I love most. It’s a great privilege and something I will never take for granted. I want to sincerely thank all the fans who have followed and supported the band and me for so long! Anneke XxX