The Cranberries frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan died earlier this year, and today the remaining members of the band have announced that they will complete work on a new studio album that they started together when O’Riordan was still alive. “We will also be completing the recording of a new studio album as previously announced, which we also started last year and for which Dolores had already recorded the vocals,” they wrote in a new statement on their official website. “All going well we hope to have this new album finished and out early next year.”

They’ve also announced that they’ll move forward with plans to release a 25th anniversary edition of their debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?. It’ll feature a remastered version of the record as well as unreleased material from around that era. It was originally scheduled to be released this month (the album turned 25 on 3/1) but those plans were put on hold after O’Riordan’s death. “We thought about it and decided that as this is something that we started as a band, with Dolores, we should push ahead and finish it,” they write. “So that’s the plan, to finish the project and get the special 25th anniversary edition album out later this year.”

Read their full statement below.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the release of our debut album “Everybody Else is doing it so why can’t we”. In recent weeks we have had a number of media enquiries asking if we were planning anything to commemorate this milestone.

We can confirm that since last summer the band had been working with Universal Music on the creation of a very special 25th anniversary edition of the album, a newly re mastered version with previously unreleased material of ours as well as other bonus material from the era of our debut album. We had planned to release this special edition this month to coincide with the 25th anniversary. However, given Dolores’ passing in January we put the entire project on hold.

In recent weeks we revisited this. After much consideration we have decided to finish what we started. We thought about it and decided that as this is something that we started as a band, with Dolores, we should push ahead and finish it. So that’s the plan, to finish the project and get the special 25th anniversary edition album out later this year.

We will also be completing the recording of a new studio album as previously announced, which we also started last year and for which Dolores had already recorded the vocals. All going well we hope to have this new album finished and out early next year.

We will keep you all up to date as things progress.
Noel, Mike and Ferg

Revisit our list of The 10 Best Cranberries Songs.