"Hello friends....well....the past 6 months have been a very productive yet frustrating time due to several minor and sometimes MAJOR production delays....a great deal has transpired....I will do my best to fill you in: "Phase 2" of recording was completed as scheduled at the end of May! The recording sessions in Sweden of the guitars, drums and lead vocals went very well....It was an intense, creative time....I am extremely pleased with the final tracking results! The Choral recording in Germany went VERY well also....these are BY FAR the best sounding choir recordings we've had! That was the good news! ; ) Here's where the "little" problems start....Upon my return from Europe at the beginning of June, I'd planned to take a few weeks off to rest and spend some quality time with my family....all the recorded material from Sweden and Germany would be transferred to DVD's and mailed to me within a few weeks....I'd "conceivably" start up production again in late June....well....unfortunately, some technical issues delayed the process and I didn't end up getting all the recorded material until mid-July! Ok....ready to start working again, right? Wrong....MAJOR computer issues then delayed the production another 4 weeks....finally, after purchasing and setting up an entirely new operating system, all issues were resolved and I was able to begin working on the production again in Mid/Late August....After spending a few days combining the recorded material from Europe with all the recorded material from the US (VERY boring, technical work ; ) I then began the grueling process of FINAL editing of all recorded material! Upon completion of final editing in late September, I began what has become my LEAST favorite part of production....EDITING VOCALS! Anyone who has ever worked with me, knows that I'm "a bit" meticulous when it comes to recording vocals....I've been known to record an ABSURD amount of vocal takes per song, per phrase, per line and even per word on occasion! ; ) So....to make a long (probably boring story ; ) short....I've spent the past 10 weeks editing 100's upon 100's of vocal takes....I assure you...I'm not exaggerating....several HUNDREDS of vocal tracks....what was I thinking? ; ) This process has inevitably become "Phase 2 1/2" of recording production and has delayed "Phase 3" (recording Bass, Piano and spoken dialog) by a few months....based on my current progress, (about 1/2 complete) I hope to complete ALL vocal editing by the end of January....Prayers are welcome! ; ) For anyone interested...(this is NOT at all intended to be a "sob-story" ; ) the amount of work on the production of this final SM album has now FAR surpassed the the amount of work that went into LPI, II and III:I combined! It does sometimes feel as if I'm producing 10 SM albums at the same time and I'd be lying if I said that the work never becomes a bit overwhelming.... BUT, in the end.... focus perseveres, progress continues and Faith endures!In closing, I will offer all of you my deepest apologies for any "false hope" I may have given you for a potential Fall 2004 release date....I will not allow myself to "project" a release date again....what I can do is assure you that I will continue to work as "diligently" as possible and I will promise you again (as I have from the beginning) that this album WILL be well worth the wait!!!!!!! Your patience and support is GREATLY appreciated! TCGB...."

Eric Clayton


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Saviour Machine