To understand the sonic weight of if_then_else , one must look at the dramatic stylistic pivot of The Gathering in the late 1990s. The band started as pioneers of atmospheric doom and gothic metal with their landmark 1995 album Mandylion . However, by the time they released the sprawling, double-disc How to Measure a Planet? in 1998, they had stripped away their heavy metal armor in favor of space rock, trip-hop rhythms, and shoegaze.
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio format that compresses your CD-quality audio (16-bit/44.1kHz) without losing any information. Unlike lossy formats like MP3 or AAC, which discard audio data to save space, FLAC preserves the original, pristine quality of the CD. This means you are listening to the music exactly as the band and producers intended, with all its depth, detail, and dynamic range intact.
In 2000, most competition entries were visual demos. However, ifthenelse released a pure audio entry (often referred to as a "music disk" or "soundtrack") that accompanied their unreleased 64k intro. The piece, often mislabeled in peer-to-peer networks as "Ifthenelse - The Gathering 2000 - eacflac," was a progressive trance/ambient suite composed by the musician known as (Torbjørn Andresen) or Gargaj (depending on the track listing).
Listening to Ifthenelse in FLAC format on a good DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) and headphones reveals the room ambience, the decay of Anneke’s reverb, the subtle hum of the amplifier between songs. Those details are lost in an MP3 or AAC stream. the gathering ifthenelse 2000 eacflac
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By the turn of the millennium, The Gathering had fully shed their early doom-metal skin. Following the massive atmospheric and electronic leaps of 1998's How to Measure a Planet? , if_then_else positioned the band at a fascinating creative crossroads.
If you obtained this legally (e.g. ripped your own CD), you’re fine. If downloaded, be aware of copyright laws in your country. To understand the sonic weight of if_then_else ,
Hauntingly slow, featuring rich vibraphone and string details.
Utilize the AccurateRip plugin within EAC to compare the rip against a global database, ensuring it matches the verified community standard.
An open-source audio compression format. Unlike MP3s, which discard audio data to save space, FLAC compresses audio without losing a single bit of information. in 1998, they had stripped away their heavy
The album has been reissued several times, including a 2019 vinyl edition.
It is a warm, often melancholic album that blends organic instruments with digital textures, making it a perfect candidate for high-fidelity, lossless storage. Why EAC FLAC?
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Released at the dawn of the new millennium, if_then_else acted as a bridge between these two worlds. It consolidated the avant-garde experimentation of their previous record into shorter, punchier, and more aggressive alternative rock formats. The title itself—borrowed from the computer programming conditional statement if-then-else —reflected the era's anxieties surrounding rapid technological expansion and Y2K computer culture. Track-by-Track Sonic Analysis