About time they got it together....
585880
About time they got it together.... That Coco & Zeek had work my nerves!!! I'm so glad that they had worked everything out bc they were made for each other.. I'm happy for Jay and Tariq bc they went through a lot as well... Great ending!!!
2926767
Grant there are a lot of pieces, but they were not all there. My husband and his friend tried to put it together after my son ran into some complications.  My genius daughter counted some key pieces and f I understand they were not all there.
2442090
it took awhile to put it together,lots of small nuts and bolts but finally it is up and being used daily.
2736612
I'm sorry to see these parts over..... Alas it is finished... But would recommend them whole

Heartily  to a friend ....
2381934
A little hard to add it to the album. Takes two people, but it worked fine. Glad the project is done :-)
1696257
Here it is at last. The highly anticipated new cd from The Gathering!
No doubt this new release was very important for the band to prove they can carry on just fine without their former singer. Did they succeed?

Well, to be honest, yes and no. Overall I find this to be an "okay" album. The new singer is proficient enough, but lacks a little in comparison to the former The Gathering singer Anneke (which is understandable given how great Anneke is).

There are some really nice songs on here that I find to be moving and fairly solid. This is a little more guitar driven than the last cd "Home", but by no means is it very heavy at all. The songs seem like a natural progression from "Home" and if you liked that last album you'll find something to like on The West Pole also.

But there are several songs on here that to me seem boring and uninspired. Almost like they didn't really know what direction to take some of the songs, so they just kind of dragged them out in a repetitive way. It's difficult for me to find a strong desire to restart the cd again unless for the reason of seeing if I can try to like it more. Perhaps with more time it will grow on me some.

My personal hunch is that their former singer Anneke also contributed her own ideas and parts to the song making process on previous Gathering albums. Whereas this time, the band was left to do it all on their own without Anneke's help, and then just have the new singer sing the parts assigned to her. So they lost a strong creative force in the band and I think it shows.

By no means is this a "bad" album. It's good, just not great, and to me doesn't feel very much inspired. Still, if your a long time fan of The Gathering like me and want their new works then feel free to get it. You'll for sure enjoy 3-4 of the songs on here, maybe more.
1089739
Seems as this album combines their old and new and perfects it!
4121749
The guys finally got to merit their own justice. I really like it when they all work together. I love how the group has grown. What a family. Charles should have been in this.
1877449
Although there were some minor difficulties assembling it, the end result is a good product.
2895522
With much anticipation and after so long, Chicago XXX finally came out.  Perhaps it was abit naiive to have any serious expectations at all.  Don't get me wrong, this is not a terrible album by any measure, but it would be untrue to call it anything other than just 'ok'.  I completely agree with the other reviewer that there are still fans waiting for them to come out with something more uniquely Chicago and more sophisticated, something with some resemblance to what they were back in the 70s, before David Foster came along.  Frankly, they just don't have anything to lose after all this time and they should be having as much fun as they could.  Time is running out in a sense.  What on earth are they waiting for ???

By contrast, another legendary band with a brand new studio album, TOTO, is very much moving forward with their music and heading into some very impressive directions, without losing their distinct TOTO signature.  The name of the album is "Falling In Between".  Order it now and 'experience' it for yourself.

As for Chicago, here's hoping that their next studio album will be just a short wait away, but more importantly, that it will be an outstanding one to demonstrate what these guys are really capable of.
2730959
It took couple weeks. But things are getting so much better.
666587
A little challenging to put together at first, but once you figure it out it is not a problem. However this is a two person job.
3115299
good times had by all, right? i think it'll take like 200 years to get thru the whole box. quite messy, but what can ya do.
2383814
Slang was a refreshing change for the band. Too bad they didn't complete the evolution. Their past two Cd's,including X belong in a time machine marked "80's music" Don't get me wrong, they were a GREAT band in their day. But, that "day" was 15 years ago. It's time for the band to accept Korn and Manson, and accept that Def Leppard had its run, and that run is over.
4837833
Looks just like it does here takes some time to put together actually get it complete
667424
So far, so good, but this is going to take a while to finish.
988755
A little work to put together but was very nice once completed.