#warrel dane

Into the Mirror Black was the right album at the wrong time: if it had come out just one or two years later Sanctuary would’ve been better positioned to present a new vanguard of metal in the ‘90s and present US power metal as the logical next step from thrash.  And even if Howard Benson’s production was a bit too slick and reflective of late ‘80s recording values the riffing and intensity of “Eden Lies Obscured” jumped out as potential gamechangers- it’s easy to imagine Sanctuary taking the opening slot on the Clash of the Titans tour if it had been released just a little later and CBS put a little more muscle into promoting it.  The track offered a compelling view into the darker side of US power metal and highlighted what made it different from the European variety as it was thicker and more forbidding even though it mostly leveraged the same foundation.  This was a band and sound ready to move past the ‘80s, as Warrel Dane’s vocals were far less yelpy than on Refuge Denied and set the stage for Nevermore; the music likewise was less hysterical and more dramatic and foreboding and created a great bridge between eras.

Make sure to listen with headphones on!

Cover Art by Travis Smith.

Miss this incredible man so fucking much every day. Allllllllways will

Warrel Dane. (March 7, 1961 – December 13, 2017)

Nevermore - What Tomorrow Knows (1995)

Past tense to future tense let history unfold So ends a decade now what will the nineties hold You know we're verging on the edge of an age Then another century will turn the page