title: The West Pole
text: # The West Pole
  
  Professional ratings :
  
  | Review scores ||
  | - | - |
  | Source | Rating |
  | AllMusic | |
  | Rock Sound | |
  | Sputnikmusic | |
  | Blogcritics | (Positive) |
  | Sea of Tranquility | |
  | MusicTAP | |
  | Lords of Metal | (89/100) |
  | Gravemusic | |
  | Dangerdog Music | |
  
  The West Pole is the ninth studio album by the Dutch rock band The Gathering. It is the first album to feature the new vocalist Silje Wergeland, previous frontwoman of Octavia Sperati. This album also includes two guest singers, Dutch Anne van den Hoogen and Mexican Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion), as well as other guest musicians. Music videos were made of the songs "All You Are" and "No Bird Call".
  
  ## Charts
  
  | Chart (2009) | Peak position |
  | - | - |
  | Dutch Albums Chart | 98 |
  
  ## Personnel
  
  ### Band members
  
  * Silje Wergeland – vocals and grand piano
  * René Rutten – electric and acoustic guitars, stylophone
  * Frank Boeijen – keyboards, piano, harmonium and vibraphone
  * Marjolein Kooijman – bass guitar
  * Hans Rutten – drums and percussions
  
  ### Additional musicians
  
  * Marcela Bovio – vocals on track 8
  * Anne van den Hoogen – vocals on track 6, megaphone nonsense on track 1 and megaphone backing vocals on track 2
  * Jos van den Dungen – violin and viola on tracks 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8
  * John Mitchell – cello on tracks 3, 4, 5 and 8
  * Marije de Jong and Jonas Pap – narrative on track 4
  