Witherfall Give a “Moment of Silence” for Drummer Adam Sagan (R.I.P.)

A whole lot has happened in the Witherfall universe since the band recorded their last album, Nocturnes and Requiems, released in early 2017. For one, the band suffered the devastating loss of drummer Adam Sagan to cancer, although Sagan wrote and recorded for that album before succumbing to that hideous disease. Second, singer Joseph Michael spent time filling in for another fallen metal soldier, stepping into the very big shoes of Warrel Dane as touring vocalist for Sanctuary.

Both of those life-altering events are very audibly present on “Moment of Silence,” the second single from Witherfall’s sophomore album A Prelude to Sorrow. The track’s title and lyrical themes are explicitly about the loss of Sagan, explains the band:

“Like our first single off of A Prelude to Sorrow, ‘Ode to Despair,’ ‘Moment of Silence’ continues on with our dark tale of the last days of Witherfall drummer Adam Sagan. This song deals with the anger we felt towards not being able to control what the eventual outcome could be. The chorus was the first thing that came during the writing of this song. Joseph had chorus melody and progression written and actually showed it to Adam during the last visit they shared. Though the dark irony was not lost on him he loved the idea. ‘Moment of Silence’ went through multiple demo iterations before the one that is found on “A Prelude to Sorrow” was officially arranged and finalized by Jake and Joseph in Florida during the recording of ‘The Long Walk Home (December)’ in November of 2017. In our recent poll you had asked for a track that is ‘violent with a big chorus’ well, here it is.”

As for that “violent” part the band references in the final sentence above, that’s where Michael’s time in Sanctuary comes in. Warrel Dane’s influence on Michael’s vocals has always been a thing, but it feels even more present here, like Michael is channeling the spirits of both Dane and Sagan all at once. What’s more, Jake Dreyer’s rhythm guitar work on this one sounds very Nevermore-ian; it’s a little bit of a stretch given the two degrees of separation between Dreyer and Jeff Loomis, but I’m 100% positive that if you asked Jake about it he’d say, “Duh, obviously, Loomis is one of my heroes!”

In case it wasn’t clear, I really dig this song.

A Prelude to Sorrow comes out on November 2nd via Century Media; pre-order here.