This album was in the works for about 3 years. I began writing most of the material in late 2008 and early 2009. I started creating demos of songs that were outside of my typical"Radio-friendly" approach to songwriting. These were songs that dealt with darker subject matter. Lots of good vs. evil, consequences of actions, ending of relationships, and coping. At the same time, I had found a new appreciation for heavier and darker music. I've been a Bass player from the beginning and always messed around with keyboards over the years, but had really been playing mostly guitar for the last several years doing solo acoustic shows. I had got an electric guitar that I never wanted to put down and hence, what I've ended up with here. Things were progressing at a casual pace as I was a stay-home Dad at the time and didn't want this project to take away from what I needed to be doing with my boys. Then in summer of 2010, I separated from my wife and we eventually divorced. This held up progress on the album for the better part of a year as I was adjusting to"life 2.0" as well as funding a new computer that would be able to help me achieve this album the way I had envisioned it. After the dust settled, I recruited my oldest friend, Tommy Murray (who I've known since Pre-School) who in my opinion is the best drummer in all of Chicago, to play drums on the songs for me. Doing this entire project by myself became daunting at times. While Tommy had given me these incredible drum tracks, I alone had to make them SOUND GOOD! Along with all the other instruments and vocals and whatnot. The last of the drum tracks were recorded in February of 2011 and I am typing this in December of 2011 finally with a completed album of 16 tracks. I really wanted to do"an album." By that, I don't mean"a collection of songs that were recorded around the same time," but more like one 75 minutes piece of music that flowed together and dealt with recurring themes in the lyrical content. As I was in the finial stages of finishing it, the record companies announced that by the end of 2012 they would no longer be making CD's of albums. All songs will be strictly download. I believe this kills the art form of"the album." and hence why it is such a big deal to me to put this out on CD. It is meant to be listened to for the entire 75 minutes. If you want to just around to your favorite parts, that's fine! ;-) But, at least once I encourage you to listen to it all the way through. Thanks for your time in reading this!Brian Kovacs