Unfortunately, due a heart attack, the legendary vocalist Warrel Dane passed away last year in Brazil, where he was recording his second solo album with the Brazilian musicians that accompanied him on his solo tours on Brazil. It was a very sad time for all who knew him, because his works with NEVERMORE and SANCTUARY gathered a great number of fans in the country. But as a final testimony of his work, "Shadow Work" is now released.

Obviously, as a solo album, it bears something near to "Praises to the War Machine", more introspective and deeper, with some extreme Metal influences (some growls can be heard in many parts), but still different. His set of musical influences was huge (a version for THE CURE's "The Hanging Garden" is a fine proof of that), so all that is heard throughout the entire album is a different insight of the works he did. Of course, the musicians that were with him were important as well on their contributions, because their experience is known on Brazil (names as SHADOWSIDE, ADDICTED TO PAIN, SUPREMA, INSTINCTED, HATEMATTER, HEVILAN, SEVENTH SEAL and others are in their personal hall). It's melodic and really touching, but heavy, aggressive and modern in both ways.

The work of Wagner Meirinho (recording, engineering) and Lasse Lammer (mixing, mastering) was done in a way that the sound quality of the album allows the songs to flow heavy and full of energy, aggressive and clean. Everything can be heard without problems, and the modern tunes of the instruments fit perfectly on what the songs meant to be.

The album's songs are all fine pieces of art in form of Metal. "Madame Satan" is a heavy and aggressive song that starts fast, but soon the tempos slow down a bit, and the contrasts between them both keeps during the entire song, showing excellent guitars. The heavy bitterness of "Disconnection System" (excellent rhythmic shifts in many parts, showing a great work from bass guitar and drums) and experimentalism of "As Fast as the Others" are astonishing, as the abrasive "Shadow Work" (this one is near something that NEVERMORE did in some of their albums, especially on the chorus). "Rain" is a deeper and melancholic song, and the modern experimentalism of "Mother is the Word for God" (even some elements of Brazilian music can be detected) are great songs, and the version of "The Hanging Garden" is truly amazing and different from the original (best than it, in reality). It's a great album, indeed.

Warrel Dane left "Shadow Work" as a final testimony of his passage on Earth, and the best homage that can be given to his memory is to listen to it out loud!