If I remember right, then this is the album where I fell in love with Anneke Van Giersbergen as a vocalist-and more importantly, The Gathering. It hasn't changed since. In fact, "Leaves" was the introduction to the band for me and so inevitable I checked out Mandylion, and I'm sure many others have gone the same way. As for the album itself, I've determined over the years that the best thing about Mandylion is that the instrumental arrangements are just as prominent and useful as Anneke's vocal delivery. The songwriting here is, for the most part immaculate. "Strange Machines", both parts of "In Motion" and "Sand and Mercury" are all elegant, powerful and emotional in the right ways. A couple of songs are consdierably weaker in my opinion ("Eleanor" and "Fear the Sea"), but aren't so enough to drag the overall experience down. If one song really stands out to me from Mandylion, it has to be the title track. That's simply the cream of the crop, which uses the flute to the fullest advantage I think.

I guess what I'm really saying here is, I love this album.