Progress has always been a driving principle in my life.

I have always strived to constantly push myself in my family, career, music, education, and multiple facets of my everyday life. However, progress cannot be fully realized without self-reflection and cognizance of where you once began.

This release is the embodiment of that notion.

"Progress" came to life as I began re-recording a three-song, progressive epic that I originally recorded and released on the first, now-defunct, Theos album. This triad of songs hosted the very first memorable guitar line that I can remember being proud of, and it serves as the driving motif through the songs.

During this period, I was also working on new music for a project that had not yet seen fruition and discovered that some of the songs would not serve well under the project's ambition. These songs were drastically different than anything I had ever written; hosting concise and conventional song structures while crushingly heavy and much more experimental. I was unsure what to do with the material until I had a revelation.

I now had two distinct projects of music that represented unique periods of my life as an individual and a musician. What better way to identify progress than to marry these two beings in order to highlight the growth, contrast, and similarity between our past and our present?

The way we release music, albums, and various projects in the digital age has led me to question the convention of typical release structures. Sure, this project may be a more cohesive and successful listen if these two halves saw separate releases. However, I intend to challenge this by iterating that art itself should be challenging; creating inspiration while also asking difficult questions about the narrative of art itself.

I implore my listeners to find the progress in all aspects of their life between who they are and who they were. Doing so gives us a better understanding of our struggles, determination, and the path forward to success.

And I implore that everyone asks themselves: what is the cost of progress?

Cheers,

Richard