The Cranberries, still in mourning, return for the last time

NEW YORK — Whether or not there would be a final Cranberries’ album hinged on what was on a hard drive on the other side of the world.

Last spring the surviving members of the Irish band began combing through unfinished vocals that singer Dolores O’Riordan sent to Ireland before her death a few months before.

They awaited with some anxiety the delivery of O’Riordan’s hard drive from her New York home. Relief came as soon as it was plugged it in: Her urgent, powerful voice was all over rudimentary songs she hadn’t gotten around to email.

Noel Hogan, the band’s lead guitarist, says it was “like winning the Lotto.”

O’Riordan had left enough strong vocals that the Cranberries were able to fashion them into their eighth and final album, “In the End,” out Friday.

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press