Warrel Dane posthumous solo album to arrive in October

Another icon was lost on December 13th, 2017 as the metal community mourned the death of Warrel Dane, who passed away of a heart attack during the recordings of his second solo album in São Paulo, Brazil. During that time, we weren’t sure if Sanctuary would continue to tour with Iced Earth nor did we expect to see the late Sanctuary/Nevermore singer’s second solo effort to arrive.

Recordings for Shadow Work, the follow-up to 2008’s Praises to the War Machine began last Fall at Orra Meu Studio in São Paulo. However, tragedy struck as the singer passed away during the process. After months of reviewing the material to decipher on what could be used to make the album happen via various pre-production sessions with Dane, the decision has been made for Shadow Work to be released on October 26th via Century Media.

The record will be available as a special edition CD mediabook that offers a 44-page booklet as each track will be illustrated by Travis Smith’s art as a personal tribute to the late singer.

Smith expressed:

“[Warrel] told me he wanted the cover for this one to be a personification of one of its songs, affectionately titled ‘Sweet Madame Satan, And Why.’ I dug up the skeleton of an old idea we’d talked about once before, and with a few details and alterations of his own, it was exactly what he had envisioned. He ‘loved it,’ approved it, and then gave me an outline for what he wanted to do for the back cover to complement it as a sort of prologue. I finished the additional artwork taking inspiration from old conversations, titles, absorbing passages from his notebooks, and some lyrics that he’d passed along earlier… Thank you for everything these past 20 years… It was an honor. It will be missed. You are missed. I know we did you proud.”

Jens Prüter, head of A&R, and Stefan Franke, product manager of Century Media Records commented:

“We are looking forward to release these 40 minutes of music in October. We and many other workmates at Century Media Records have known Warrel for years, have been through thick and thin, and are fans of his art just like the many, many people supporting him since the ’80s. The dedication his band, Travis Smith and our team invested in completing ‘Shadow Work’ was astonishing and the entire record carries an eerie atmosphere of Warrel already feeling that this might be his last work. It is heartbreaking that he was right in the end. Rest in peace, friend.”

Track List: