This collection of songs, which could be seen as a sister release to the previously released ”2011-2018”, includes outtakes and alternative versions of songs from the albums ”Journey Within” and ”The Inner Piece / The New Religion”. The period in which these albums were recorded was a time of great upheaval and transformation for me. It was simultaneously a period of great creativity since music became a healing tool to express it all.

It wasn't a neat chain of events or just a few isolated incidents but over a quite short period of time, everything that was my life as I knew it crumbled and fell away. I was in pain and my attempts to get away from it only made things worse. I eventually came to a point where I had to make a choice, to continue fleeing or to face my worst fears. Some part of me knew what I had to do but I strongly hesitated to delve any deeper because I was afraid that I might loose myself in the process. At the same time I felt that there was no other way than through it all so I plunged head first into the murky waters of my mind without knowing if I would ever make it back to the surface. It was truly a leap of faith.

The recording of ”Journey Within”, which took place in 2015, partly captured my decent, my inner turmoil and the path I had to traverse to find my way back towards the light. I thought I was starting to get a grip on things as fall gave way to winter and I felt as if the worst was behind me.

Then my dad died.

After mixing and releasing ”Journey Within” in 2016, I recorded hours upon hours of material for ”The Inner Piece / The New Religion”, which was supposed to be the grand follow-up to ”Journey Within”. Throughout 2017 all recordings that were done mirrored the fragile and fractured state I was left in, where most of the residual shell of what used to be me totally fell apart. At the time I didn't think any of the recorded material was worth releasing but years later I listened though parts of it and felt that it had so much to tell. Even if it's almost like an artist's sketch book it shows an important part of the journey.

Six years have now passed since I recorded ”Journey Within”, and just as it did with the recordings for ”The Inner Piece / The New Religion”, the passing of time changes your perspective on things. Today I can honestly say that this period of my life, which surely was the darkest one yet for me, isn't something I would do without. Pain and apparent calamity are in many ways a part of the evolution of life. For the new to emerge the old has to crumble. As I initially feared, I did loose myself in the process, just not in the way I imagined. I doubt a caterpillar knows what's coming when it's about to liquify to turn into a butterfly.

Anyway, here are some versions of previously released songs from that era. Even though they might be dark in places, I really hope they can give support and inspire those who need it. We all carry an evolutionary potential far greater than that of any caterpillar but to unlock it we can't turn away from the pain that leads us through the transformation.

--Tobias E., July 2021


"Old Foundations"
This is actually the original mix for the opening track of ”Journey Within”. The mixing of that album took a very long time and somewhere in the middle or maybe towards the end I felt that it was just too much going on in the mix. This version contains vocals and percussion that were dropped to make it a bit easier to digest. I mean, it is still quite a weird piece of music to open an album with.

If you have a hard time with the previously released version this might not be for you though. If I ever were asked to write a soundtrack to hell, this would probably be it. Even though it's mostly the same mix as the ”Journey Within” version, the added vocals and percussion gives it a much more disturbing sound.


"When Everything is Falling Apart"
Probably the best recorded version of this song, at least performance-wise. I chose another version for ”The Inner Piece / The New Religion” because I felt it more accurately conveyed the messiness I was aiming to portray and that it had a better fit with the rest of that material.


"New Foundations & Another Piece"
Yet another version of ”The Inner Piece” that due to some recording magic has a completely different feel than any of the previously released ones. Also, this one starts with a new interpretation of ”Foundations”.


"In a While..."
At some point this little improvised teaser was intended to end up on one of these albums.


"Aethereal (Original Free Improvisation)" [Bonus Track]
The seed of ”Aethereal”. A freely improvised session with me on guitar and Jonas on drums. This was never intended to become anything and the recording was partly accidental. This is basically just the drum track since there were no microphones capturing the guitar. You can still hear the guitar leaking trough the drum mics though.

I heard something in this that made me construct this loose improvisation into the longest song on ”Journey Within”. Had the original guitar been captured properly it might just have ended like this.