WARREL DANE
Shadow Work
Century Media
4.5/5
It is with a heavy heart that I review the final outing from a man who’ve I’ve always felt was a visionary in this industry. Warrel Dane wrote some of the most thought-provoking lyrics that I’ve ever heard in this genre, no matter if the act attached to them was that of Sanctuary, Nevermore or this self-titled project. Those who might not have been fond of the previous Warrel Dane outing Praises To The War Machine because of it’s more stripped-down melodic metal feel will certainly find not only what they’ve been looking to hear from Dane, but from Nevermore in general. In all honesty, Shadow Work sounds more like the heavily calculated technicality that we might expect from the man who fronted an act responsible for albums like The Politics Of Ecstasy and This Godless Endeavor than it does a simple offering of melodic metal. Ultimately, this heavy metal titan went out with a bang, rather than what might be described as the whimper of his last recorded live performance which I still cannot watch in it’s entirety and feel should never have been released to the public.
Though I digress, because the performance here is by and large what we’ve expected, with rippling guitar acrobatics, Dane’s powerful vocal lines and a slew of somewhat memorable choruses. Much like This Godless Endeavor, harsh vocals are even utilized on the recording, which came as quite a surprise. The metaphysical opening in “Ethereal Blessing” might come off as a bit of a surprise in it’s almost meditative sense, but that feeling certainly changes in what might be described as one of the darkest pieces that Warrel Dane has ever written in “Madame Satan.” I personally love this one, as it mixes extreme technicality and thunderous death metal growls with what I’d consider to be one of the most powerful choruses on this disc – and we’ve only just begun. “Disconnection System” then flows beautifully afterwards, feeling more cohesive when coupled with the rest of the cuts here. Those who’ve heard the single already know that it’s an incredible monument and a dead-ringer for everything that Nevermore stands for. Some of you also might have assumed as I did, that this might as well be a new Nevermore album and I’m here to tell you that you’re right. If you replace the name Warrel Dane with Nevermore and still consider the title Shadow Work it doesn’t feel like any major changes were made to signify this as something completely different. Perhaps “As Fast As The Others” doesn’t feel as technical as the former, but if you remember Dead Heart In A Dead World you’ll understand how this one fits as well. And yes, there are plenty of meaty tempo changes within the piece, as well as a pulse-pounding solo. The title cut follows with what I’d consider to be an amazing technical display of melancholy on par with any of Nevermore’s most accredited performances. I’m not entirely crazy about the chorus here as I feel that it might be a bit buried in the mix, but that all depends on how you’re listening to the album. However, “The Hanging Gardens” is a bit more potent in that particular area along with what I would consider to be further pronounced melody nodes, though it also features a depth-defying instrumental section that must be heard to be believed.
The album’s only ballad “Rain” has an incredibly notable lead riff (which isn’t quite as audible as I’d like it to be) which certainly caught my attention early on, rolling shortly into an incredibly unexpected sucker punch of a solo. Still not ready to call this a new Nevermore album yet? Because that’s the vibe I’ve been been getting for the entirety of this performance – and Warrel Dane isn’t quite done yet. There’s one more piece to add to his legacy and it’s a heart stopper. Shadow Work completes with a monstrous tour-de-force called “Mother Is The Word For God” and it still shatters my neural receptors whenever I hear it. Coming in at nearly ten minutes of playing time, this is the kind of immense complexity that I’ve known and loved for decades. At times it is loaded to the brim with chugs, but erupts into absolute mayhem in the form of incredible guitar acrobatics. Dane’s performance feels quite like that of a stage play and in this case, it could be seen as something of an opera. Though I did not expect the breakdown, I can’t say that I mind it very much as the twisted musical realms that the piece embodies more than make up for what could be seen as a core-influenced fallacy. Additionally, some may say that it musically goes over the top, but I don’t think that Warrel Dane would want anything less. It almost feels that the band are trying to encapsulate every sub-genre innovation of the last ten years into one massive rock opera and will probably go down as one of the best performances ever attached to the name Warrel Dane. It is with sorrowful violins that the Shadow Work comes to an end. So it is with these haunting words, a warning if you will; that we hear Dane’s final message.
Even near death’s door, Warrel Dane held to the same beliefs. He didn’t quickly give us a “come to Jesus” moment, nor did he go back on any of the ideologies that he had shared with us in prior albums. Nothing here has changed and it is just as haunting as ever. Shadow Work is definitely one of Dane’s darkest albums and it is even more haunting that it was to be his last. This is the sound of man still continuing to struggle with a world that he couldn’t come to understand and echoes very much my own thoughts on reality, such as it is today. We’re no further from the outcome that Warrel Dane mentioned on the first Sanctuary album, nor the very first Nevermore disc. As a matter of fact, if Shadow Work has taught us anything, it is that we have learned nothing and are more divided now than ever before. Dane preached many of these same messages for years, where even after the philosopher’s death, they still go unheard and unnoticed. If you dare to challenge me, you only need to go back to his very first performance and work your way up. You’ll find that many of these messages are indeed the same throughout the course of several decades. It is difficult to not shed a tear during the writing of this review, but what I find to be even more upsetting is that we’ve learned absolutely nothing from any of this. Sanctuary, Nevermore and Warrel Dane’s music were more than just entertainment. I remember playing “When We Pray” a few years ago to a friend who didn’t even like heavy metal music and was not even surprised when she told me that she not only understood the song’s message, but completely agreed with it. That’s just how powerful his music was.
Warrel Dane died with the same grudge against humanity that he’s had for decades and this literal dark night of the soul seems to be one final manifestation of that. Nevertheless, Nevermore fans will be greatly pleased by the context of this album and it should definitely go down as one of the best releases of the year. They can try to replace him, but no one in this genre will ever be able to match Warrel Dane. Let us hope that in death, he has finally found peace.