How to Measure a Planet?

How to Measure a Planet?
How to Measure a Planet?
Studio album by The Gathering
Released	9 November 1998
Recorded	July–October 1998
Studio	Bauwhaus Studios, Amsterdam, and Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum
Genre	Progressive rock; alternative rock;
Length	103:21
Label	Century Media
Producer	Attie Bauw
The Gathering chronology

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Chronicles of Chaos	7/10^[2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	7/10^[3]
Rock Hard	10/10^[4]

How to Measure a Planet? is the fifth studio album by the Dutch rock band The Gathering. It was released as a double CD on 9 November 1998 by Century Media Records. The album was recorded at Bauwhaus Studios, Amsterdam, and Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, between July and October 1998 under the guidance of producer Attie Bauw.

The theme of space travel runs through many of the songs on the album as well as on the cover and CD booklet.

The track "Liberty Bell" was released as a single in Europe, as well as in Canada on a bonus CD distributed with issue 12 of the metal magazine Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles.

Upon release, the album received positive reviews from critics who appreciated the band's absorption of newfound elements of shoegaze and trip hop into its sound. However, many fans of the more metallic side of the group were not so pleased and it sold about two-thirds as much as its two predecessors (although some slippage should have been expected, given it was a more expensive two-CD package). Many of the Gathering's fans did stay with the band and, as the members have said, it brought them a whole new fanbase.

How to Measure a Planet? remains something of a high point for the Gathering, with tracks from the album making up the majority of their two subsequent live albums, Superheat (2000) and Sleepy Buildings (2004).

In Japan, a one-CD version of the album was released, omitting the nearly half-hour title track.

^ True, Chris. "The Gathering – How to Measure a Planet review?". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^ Azevedo, Pedro (16 January 1999). "The Gathering – How to Measure a Planet?". Chronicles of Chaos. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^ Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 168. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
^ Kaiser, Boris (December 1998). "Review Dynamit: The Gathering – How to Measure a Planet?". Rock Hard (in German). No. 139. Retrieved 27 December 2016.

[1] True, Chris. "The Gathering – How to Measure a Planet review?". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 December 2016.

[2] Azevedo, Pedro (16 January 1999). "The Gathering – How to Measure a Planet?". Chronicles of Chaos. Retrieved 27 December 2016.

[martin-3] Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 168. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.

[4] Kaiser, Boris (December 1998). "Review Dynamit: The Gathering – How to Measure a Planet?". Rock Hard (in German). No. 139. Retrieved 27 December 2016.

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