When Warrel Dane died on December 13, 2017 in Brazil while working on his second solo album, his death shut the door on his versions of Sanctuary and Nevermore (you could also count Dane’s very early band Serpent’s Knight). Fans hoped for a Nevermore reunion. Dane was in Sanctuary before Nevermore and after Nevermore’s breakup, he reformed Sanctuary. While Nevermore could reform with a different vocalist, Sanctuary toured in tribute to Dane with Witherfall vocalist Joseph Michael, and Michael and Sanctuary guitarist Lenny Rutledge have talked about continuing Sanctuary with Michael, obviously nothing more can happen with Dane. All we have now are the memories and the recordings, both of which are finite (if you have somehow come across Dane without hearing Sanctuary and Nevermore, go back and review those album because you are in for a crushing treat).
That’s one of the reasons that the release of Shadow Work ten months after Dane’s death is so exciting. There may be some live recordings or demos out there, but this is it for new work.
While still with Nevermore, Dane released his first solo album Praises to the War Machine in 2008. Overall, it’s a good, well-produced album that’s a little slower than a lot of the other work Dane put out.
Shadow Work appears under vastly different circumstances. It comes out post-Nevermore, ten years after Praises to the War Machine, and features a completely different set of musicians (in fact, comparing liner notes from both albums, it appears that the only person associated with both records other than Dane is Travis Smith who did artwork for both releases along with multiple Nevermore projects). Most notably, the album wasn’t finalized when Dane passed away. The vocals come from demo and studio sessions, so there is an unfinished and incomplete feel to this album. Perhaps more tracks would have been written and issued than the eight that appear here (seven originals plus a cover of the Cure’s “The Hanging Garden”). What would those unwritten tracks have sounded like? What forms would the final eight have taken with Dane’s input? How different would the vocals have been? Is it is possible some of these tracks would have been replaced with later songs that were not yet written?
Luckily, there’s good material here. This isn’t a case of scraping the barrel just to squeeze an album out (the rich artwork and photographs that are part of the forty-four page liner notes also attest to the thoughtfulness and care everyone gave to Shadow Work). The band and their team did an excellent job of selecting vocal tracks from what was available and/or Dane put a lot of thought and private preparatory work into his vocals so that what he recorded was already topnotch. The album is a little more raw, frenetic, and heavier in most places than Praises to the War Machine, which has better production and places Dane’s voice higher in the mix. However, Shadow Work, which loses some of the groove of Praises to the War Machine in favor of speed, sounds a little closer to the feel and tempos of the Nevermore records than Praises to the War Machine. If you are a fan of Nevermore and Sanctuary, neither solo release will probably disappoint you, but they are different.
Shadow work is an interesting concept of terms of both the psyche and labor. The lyrical content consists of the usual Dane topics such as religion, family, faith, and mental and emotional pain. In retrospect, one can’t help but listen to this album in connection with Dane’s demise and substance issues. Lyrics like these from “Rain” are chilling: “I’m just a slave / just a victim / of multiple addictions.” In “Madame Satan” Dane wrestles with spiritual issues and the afterlife. He speculates that “Maybe we are not immortal.” Maybe we are, maybe we aren’t.
But words, art, and music will live forever.
TRACKLIST
Ethereal Blessing
Madame Satan
Disconnection System
As Fast As The Others
Shadow Work
The Hanging Garden
Rain
Mother Is The Word For God
