The Gentle Storm | facebook | twitter |
Released on March 23, 2015 via InsideOut Music
Both Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon) and Anneke van Giersbergen (ex The Gathering) are reputable musicians in the Dutch rock and metal scene who decided to join forces in a brand new project called The Gentle Storm. They worked with each other before on a couple of Arjen’s previous projects, but this time around they created an entire double album partly inspired by the nautical history of The Netherlands. Their creative endeavor is called The Diary, so let’s take a closer look.
According to the accompanying press release The Diary contains Arjen Lucassen’s most vocal orientated material to date. He’s usually known for his elaborate use of keyboards, heavy guitars and completely over the top style of arrangements and dito concept stories, but on The Diary he decided to tone things down a little and let vocals take centre stage. Frankly, it’s quite refreshing and it makes this album a little more digestible than some of his other projects. Another one of The Diary’s more charming aspects are the angelic vocals by former The Gathering singer Anneke van Giersbergen. She really knows how the make the most of the vocal-orientated material as she aptly demonstrates on ‘Heart Of Amsterdam’, ‘ The Greatest Love’ and the title track.
The real gem of The Diary comes in the form of the re-arranged and folk influenced versions of the material that make up the Gentle half of this double album. This is where Anneke really gets the chance to unleash the full scope of her versatile vocal pipes, especially on ‘Shores Of India’ and ‘Eyes Of Michiel’. This is also the part where Arjen shows a more vulnerable side of himself and where his skills as a masterful composer really takes shape. That’s not to say that the heavier material isn’t interesting, but it’s on Gentle where he really gets out of his comfort zone and really comes up with some truly inspired and often magical musical moments.
The Diary is on one hand a high quality progressive rock/metal type of album that should attract fans from the heavier aspects of Arjen’s work and even Stream Of Passion and fans of Mandylion-era The Gathering, but it’s the folk music inspired half of the material that really make this a memorable release. Nicely done!
