The Gathering released their third album (and first to feature Anneke van Giersbergen) Mandylion in 1995 through Century Media; proving to be their breakthrough and selling over 130,000 copies in Europe.
In 1998 the group acknowledged their growing influences and their need to experiment with a double-album How to Measure a Planet?. Produced by Attie Bauw, the album is a radical departure from the group's established sound, characteristically experimental alternative, trip rock.