Anneke Van Giersbergen - The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest

I ‘ve been trying for over ten years now to understand the real reason why Anneke left The Gathering. We don’t know for sure if the reasons were purely artistic but we must admit that she has a truly amazing voice; one of the best ever to appear in music and that she has a unique way of writing the lyrics by expressing her feelings with a very personal and special way. On the other hand, from a songwriting standpoint, it seems that she goes nowhere really with nothing essential to offer down the line.

“The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest” is a confirmation of my above claim since it is another semi-acoustic let’s say effort, which for the umpteenth time doesn’t have to offer something worthwhile and which, personally, has started to make me very tired. If this was her first attempt at experimentation I would definitely find it interesting. However, this is her fifth consecutive album in this pattern and I think that after “Pure Air” (as Agua De Annique in 2009) she doesn’t have much to say musically.

I was forced to stand out, somewhere towards the end of the album, “Losing You” and “Survive” due to their good melodies and their slightly more enriched orchestration compared to the other songs.

It is obvious that Anneke has nothing to prove after all that she has given in music and it is also obvious that she has chosen this path, but in reality I think she has left thousands of fans complaining. Being one of my favorite singers, I sincerely hope for a strong comeback.